


Symphony Dreamers

by pureklaination



Category: Glee
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-09-07
Updated: 2013-03-24
Packaged: 2017-11-13 18:09:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 38,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/506273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pureklaination/pseuds/pureklaination
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kurt's been torn down for as long as he remembers, but when Rachel's older brother Blaine starts pulling moves on him he's hard pressed to decide if it's a good thing or not. Kurt's never been in love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Kurt what should we watch tonight? There’s a Barbra marathon on, or Singing in the rain on the other channel?”  Rachel sat on her bed, Kurt on a beanbag beside it.

“The marathon obviously.” He rolled his eyes when she squealed a bit, and moved to lie on the bed beside her. They’d been at it all evening, eating, gossiping and makeovers – just a normal night in the Berry home.

Before the first film was over, and well into the early hours of the morning Rachel was snoring softly into her pillow, curled up beside Kurt who was still awake watching.

Too awake to sleep properly and too distracted to care.

Blaine was home, Kurt could hear the tapping on his keyboard from across the hallway. _Blaine._ The older brother, the _untouchable_ older brother, the single _and_ gay untouchable older brother – Kurt had a crush.

It started off slowly, Blaine appearing in the kitchen over break in boxers and a loose shirt, heading for the coffee and back to his room. Bumping into each other in the hallway after a late night bathroom trip and saying nothing.

The way his hair looked without the layers of gel that held it in place at school. His hands twitched just thinking about running a hand through those curls, how they would feel.

These fantasies were a regular occurrence whenever Kurt slept over at Rachel’s house, admittedly getting worse over the holidays, what with Blaine being in the other room – typing away or listening to music softly in his room.

Blaine was older, a senior at McKinley popular and respected even with his out-and-proud status. Something about his outgoing nature leaving him free from the homophobic bullying that followed Kurt around every day.

Kurt was sure a part of it was the very stereotypical straight persona that Blaine put across, playing football with the team – basketball on the weekends the other guy barely noticed him not talking part in the usual post game girlfriend banter in the locker room. 

Blaine was just – kind of perfect – well, in Kurt’s eyes anyway.

The strong jaw, dark hair and deep honey brown eyes, he could get lost in them for hours. Making coherent, intelligent conversation difficult in Blaine’s presence and causing Rachel to shoot him funny looks whenever they were in the same room.

The sound of a phone going off startled Kurt out of his reverie, who would send a message this late at night? He rifled around for his phone, finally finding it tucked under the pillows at the other end of the bed. The screen was blank – it wasn’t his phone going off.

From the gap in the door he heard rustling from across the hall, the sound of keys being picked up and a door closing. Oh, Blaine had the same ringtone – that was cool. But he was also sneaking out of the house.

A familiar creak on the stairwell outside and the front door closing so softly that there was no way Kurt would have heard it unless he was listening for it. Out on the street a car started up, pulling away from the curb a faint reflection of light beams across the roof.

Blaine had left, at 2am after a text message in the middle of the night without telling anyone. There could only have been one reason in Kurt’s mind. A late night hook up with some gorgeous stranger. That’s all it could be really, someone getting to kiss his neck – some light frottage in the back car seat in the dark of the night.

He wasn’t thinking further than that, Kurt _couldn’t_ think further than that – the awkward situation of sharing a bed with Rachel _Blaine’s sister and my best friend_ he reminded himself; Mixed with a severe lack of experience and a reputation for being somewhat _virginal_ even amongst his group of friends.

And that was saying something, Kurt was in Glee club – the lowest of the low, robbed of the choice of ever ‘coming out of the closet’ with his keen sense of fashion and high pitched voice. At McKinley there was no going any lower. ..

His eyes drifted shut.

Waking with a start and indiscernible time later, light faintly shining in from the window and that creak of the stairs he looked up just in time to see a dark figure creep past the door and the one opposite opening and closing.

Blaine had just gotten back; at _dawn_ no wonder he spent so much time sleeping in, in the morning – if this was any kind of regular occurrence.

It was too early for this, his head still foggy from staying up late the night before – and is he knew Rachel, she’d be up for her morning routine in less than an hour , forcing him awake whether he liked it or not.

2 hours later Kurt dragged himself downstairs, the effect of the crappy night’s sleep written all over his face, poured himself a cup of coffee and sighing; lent up against the bench.

“Good Morning.” Blaine’s disgustingly chirpy voice greeted him. _Oh what the fuck?_ He was looking spectacular, black highwaters, red shirt and a black and red bowtie. His eyes were bright and cheery and a massive grin plastered across his face. _Asshole._

Kurt eyes dropped unconsciously, it was like looking at the sun too long – blinding and unfair. His matching blue pyjamas looking ridiculously adolescent in comparison; Kurt was only a year younger but right now, he felt like her was 5.

“Did you have a good sleep Kurt?” still accompanied with that stupid grin. Kurt felt a bolt of electricity down his spine, how the hell was he supposed to make idle conversation like this? His hair was probably frightful and he must have looked sleep deprived as hell.

“Yeah… it was okay.” There was no way he was bringing up Blaine sneaking out at 2am – or that he’s stayed up thinking about him for hours.  

Blaine just smiled back at him, bouncing back on the balls of his feet, “Sweet, I’ll see you later then.” Promptly walking out the front door to his car, Kurt watched him drive off (A little too close to the navigator this time) and shook his head.

One day they would have an actual conversation and he wouldn’t bumble over his words like an idiot. One day.

Rachel was down stairs not 5 minutes later, “Did Blaine go out already? He’s up early!” there was not enough coffee in the world to make this topic finish faster.

“Yeah, looks that way.” Kurt nonchalantly turned around to re-fill his cup.

“He’s been going out a lot lately, makes me wonder if there’s a special someone in his life that we don’t know about. This merits some _investigation_ don’t you think?” She smiled and wiggled her eyebrows at him.

“I think if Blaine wanted to pursue a secret relationship, he’d want to keep it – you know, secret.”

Rachel’s face fell minutely “But Kurrrrt,” drawing out his name in a bit of a whine, “it could be a fun way to spend tonight.”

Kurt had pre-arranged to stay at Rachel’s two nights in a row, with a brief afternoon shift (only 3 hours) at the garage with his dad as bribery. “Rach, come on – let’s go shopping instead.” She let the subject fall with surprisingly little resistance – following him upstairs to get ready.

XXX

Kurt was standing in the bathroom – just having gotten out of the shower, but got distracted by the mirror. A towel around his waist and a pair of tweezers in his hand; irregularly touching up his eyebrows while his pours were stimulated by the heat and steam in the room.

A sudden draft permeated the steam in the room, throwing Kurt off and making him catch his skin instead “shit.”

“Oh sorry, I didn’t realize anyone was in here, um bye.”

Blaine didn’t leave straight away, his awkward grimace stayed in place while his eyes raked up and down Kurt. “You were leaving?” it was muttered under his breath with an undertone of ice.

Blaine’s eyes widened in shock ‘Ye-yes, sorry!” The door closed and Kurt collapsed on the floor. He’s gone out; he was supposed to be out.

Ambushed by an attractive man in the shower _what on earth was this day?_ It wasn’t improving.

Kurt dressed quickly after that, a blush high on his cheeks the entire time and a bit longer fixing his hair. “Kurt come _on,”_ Rachel knocked at the door, “if you spend any more time in the shower we’re not going to make it in time for lunch.” Kurt spent a few more seconds on his hair, before opening the door and proclaiming himself ready.

Gathering his satchel bag off the floor, and still fighting of brief feelings of mortification every second he spent in the house, Kurt and Rachel trooped down the stairs to the front door, calling out goodbye to Rachel’s dads.

“Bye Rach, Kurt.” Blaine tilted his head from the couch in the living room next to the door. “By Blaine, any plans this afternoon? You should come to the mall with Kurt and I, we’re just going to get some lunch and check out the sales.”

“NO,” came the very quick reply from Blaine, “I’ve got better things to do than follow my baby sister around in a mall for 6 hours.” It didn’t faze Rachel for a second, nor did she notice the ‘caught in the headlights’ look from Kurt.

“Aww, going to plaster yourself to the couch again today Blaine? Because I hear that look is out.” Rachel’s were shining at the banter, a regular occurrence for them in the battle for superiority.

“Because you’re the one to be lecturing me on what look is “out” aren’t you Rachel? With your fuzzy unicorn sweaters and knee socks, maybe you could learn a few things from Kurt and get back to me.” He _winked. Winked_.

Kurt felt the blush, continuing down his neck and causing goose bumps over his skin. “Clearly this solves everything – I’ve got a superior fashion sense than the both of you.” Kurt strode out the door and was halfway to his car parked on the curb when Rachel and Blaine caught up with him.

Mildly surprised, but trying not to let it show, he unlocked the doors and got into the driver’s seat. It was going to be a long afternoon. 


	2. Chapter 2

The mall was packed with people going about their shopping and taking no notice of the three teenagers excitedly buzzing around the sales.

"You need to try this on Rachel. Could you imagine going one day without the horrific sweaters and wearing a nice jacket instead? It would look amazing on you! Also might help with… Finn's attentions?"

Her eyes snapped up at that, "Finn?"

Kurt nodded vaguely holding the jacket out towards Rachel and ushering her to the change rooms. "Go on, what harm could it do – trying it on doesn't mean you have to buy it."

"Erghth, Rachel really? Finn? Why would you? You're not…" Blaine mimed a gag reflex behind a pile of clothing – causing Rachel to shoot daggers at him.

"Just this morning you were going on about Kurt's exquisite taste. You know he had a crush on him last year too, right?" Rachel snapped back at Blaine, taking the jacket out of Kurt's hand and walking into the change room.

Kurt was mortified at the look on Blaine's face like he'd been slapped with a wet fish. "She's kidding right? I mean, he's your brother."

"He-he wasn't my brother last year okay, and yeah I did." Before the blush could spread over every inch of his face, Kurt picked out a random item of clothing from the racks beside him and went into a change room.

How much embarrassment was he going to have to go through in one day? Blaine was there and just judging him for a schoolboy crush. It was last year but still. Damn Rachel leaving him alone in that situation!

He took a few minutes to collect himself before glancing at the hideous pair of jeans he'd picked up from the rack – dark, artfully ripped skinny jeans. No, that was never going to look good with his wardrobe. He'd have to try them now or risk looking like an idiot for running into the change rooms.

"Kurt, hurry up.I need your opinion on this jacket." Rachel had a barely discernible edge to her voice, what was that about?

"Wait a minute, I just need to change out of these jeans they look awful-"

Kurt was cut off by Rachel clearing her throat. "You have to show us, Kurt. You can't get away with trying them on and not letting us at least seethem."

God, she was irritating some days. If they didn't have so much in common and she didn't have such an attractive brother or live down the road or…oh forget it.

Kurt stuck his head out of the change room and looked to the left to see Blaine and Rachel standing by a long mirror at the end. "Don't laugh?" As if he wasn't nervous enough – Kurt didn't really dojeans, they were coarse and most of the time uncomfortable – these seemed to fit pretty well.

Oh well, if he was going to give them a show he may as well make it a good one. Kurt strutted out of the tiny room with all the confidence of a runway model, walking the way he would down a catwalk.

Rachel squealed a bit, clapping her hands together excitedly. "Kurt, they look amazing! You have to buy them." What now?

Blaine didn't say a word, though Kurt had reached them and was throwing poses in the direction of the mirror. A little put out, he turned to Rachel, still wearing the jacket he'd picked out for her and inspecting it.

"The pink may be a little much, you should get the purple instead. That way it will match better with your white knee high sock addiction." With that he turned back to the change room

"Kurt?"

Rachel had disappeared out to the racks to collect an alternate colour.

Blaine didn't elaborate he just pointed up to the speaker installed on the ceiling with an amused look. Kurt listened a little harder and Blaine hummed along. 'Let you put your hands on me, in my skin tight jeans, be your teenage dream tonight.'Kurt laughed at the irony and ducked back into his room.

Wait, what? Was that Blaine being suggestiveor was he just pointing out the irony? Was it meant as flirtation? He'd waited until Rachel left to point it out, but it was just that particular part of the song, wasn't it? His thoughts continued to run away with him while he changed back into his regular pants and started re-lacing his boots. If he kept going like this, it was going to be a long day.

Kurt and Rachel had their purchases rung up and the group finally made their way to the food court for a late lunch, Kurt automatically scanning the area for familiar faces – a habit he'd gotten into everywhere he went to avoid trouble. Given that it was a Saturday afternoon, there wasn't much to do in Ohio and there were people everywhere.

His heart dropped a little seeing a bunch of Letterman jackets on the other side of the group of tables. Didn't those idiots ever washthem? Blaine noticed too, and without a care in the world made his way over, exchanging high-fives with the friendliest of the group and melding into the conversation immediately.

He raised his hand to motion Rachel and Kurt to join him over there, a few of the jocks turning in their seats to see who he was gesturing to. But Kurt shook his head and pulled Rachel over to a table as far away from the obnoxious crowd as he could get.

"Rachel, I'm not sitting near them, I don't care. Did you see the look on Karofsky's face? No way. Blaine's lucky he hasn't been beaten up for being in the same room as me. Why did we decide this was a good idea?"

"Kurt, it's just lunch. They can't possibly hurt you for wanting to eat, can they?"

The incredulous tone of her voice made him raise an eyebrow automatically. "Rachel, that group at the end of the table?" Kurt motioned over his shoulder at Karofsky, Azimo and a few other burly guys. "They've been making my life a living hell for weeks. I can't shake them. Last week, Karofsky started shoving me into lockers every time he walked past me, just because he can."

Rachel looked shocked, her eyes on her brother across the room, "You should tell Blaine. I'm sure he'd be able to get them to stop…"

Kurt's reaction was immediate "NO! They're his friends, Rachel, and if he got involved they would probably just start treating him the same way and… just no, Rachel. And I don't want to hear you've told him behind my back either. Just let it go."

Blaine re-joined them again at that moment, bouncing over to the table and pulling over another seat. "How come you guys didn't come and say hi?" he looked at them both in turn.

Kurt's eyes dropped to the table automatically. He mumbled out as best he could, "We were just hungry and decided to order instead." Rachel however shot him a look that couldn't possibly have gone unnoticed by Blaine.

"We were uncomfortable Blaine. Those people," she gestured to the group on the other side of the court, "are not our friends. They are jocks, we're in Glee club. You do the math," she scoffed.

"Oh jeeze guys. I'm sorry. I should have thought about that- um, sorry." He looked like someone had just kicked a puppy. "Should we get something to eat?" Blaine asked the question with some trepidation, looking legitimately chastised.

Kurt was used to relying on his sarcasm, witty retorts and quick thinking was his fall back behaviour. He'd never unleashed it on Blaine before, the not thought out, "Well that's why we came to the food court, isn't it?" only caused Blaine's face to fall further. Kurt watched, unable to take it back and not knowing how to apologise for it.

This trip was rapidly going to hell in a hand basket. Rachel was looking between the two boys puzzled.

Kurt pulled a face at her and got up. "We could just go back to your place and order pizza?" There was visible sag of relief from both Rachel and Blaine as they got up and headed out of the mall.

They were hungry. It was late in the afternoon but getting out of the mall had settled the tension. Kurt pulled over and Blaine got out of the car to collect the pizza on their way home.

"Kurt," Rachel leaned over a bit from the passenger side, eyes darting around to check that they were alone. "I think Blaine has a crush on you." It was like a bomb going off in Kurt's mind because there was no way that was even remotely possible and Rach had surely, finally, lost the plot.

He rolled his eyes not so subtly. "Rachel, are you high? Your brother has not got a crush on me." There was no way he was going to believe that Blaine Anderson had a crush on him. He was like some sort of demi-god, blessing the mere mortals with his handsome face and …no. Kurt could not even begin to imagine it.

Besides, judging by his night time antics, he wasn't looking either.

"No, but seriously Kurt, the way he keeps looking at you for your opinion, and jumping to agree with you on things. I know my brother. He's not usually so… forthcoming."

Blaine appeared at the back door then, his arms laden down with the pizza boxes and soda, causing an abrupt end to the conversation. "Right, let's go."

They settled in to watch Grease, spreading the pizza out on the floor and lounging around it. Kurt was sitting in between Rachel and Blaine, staring intently at the TV. Grease was one of their favourite musicals, a good fallback for the middle of the afternoon on what had been a long day.

But Kurt was distracted. Blaine was lying on his side, his head leaning on his palm, within reach of the pizza. Also within reach of Kurt, who was very aware of it, the side of his body tingling and buzzing in the hopes of another one of those brushes past his knees when Blaine reached towards his soda.

"I've always loved the costuming in this movie, the girls in those cute circle skirts…." He'd seen this before. Rachel was about to start one of her in-depth talk-a-thons about the nature of costuming in movies pre-90s.

"Rachel, shut up." That was all Blaine had to say and she fell silent, a light pout on her mouth. Kurt reached forward for his drink, picking it up to bring slowly to his lips, still looking at Rachel when he felt hot breath across his ear. "It's not like you or I are looking at the skirts."

Kurt was trying to swallow the liquid in his mouth, but the urge to cough overtook it and he choked, trying to keep his lips sealed, causing an automatic knee-jerk reaction. His drink toppled out of his fingers and going all over Blaine, who just sat there, surprised and wet.

Kurt managed to stop choking, swallowing the mouthful of drink to splutter out an apology.

Blaine laughed. "It's okay. I'm gonna go have a shower though." He left the room.

"Are you okay?" Rachel's look was pained.

Yeah, sure, he was okay. No sleep, being walked in on in the shower, making smart ass comments, buying pants just because Blaine liked them, making an idiot of himself, making Blaine feel bad and finally spilling soda all over him. Yep, fine and dandy.

Maybe he should just go to bed, because clearly he'd caused enough trouble for one day. "I'll be back in a minute." Kurt walked up the stairs trying not to let the glazed tears in his eyes slip out before getting to Rachel's room.

"Kurt." The voice was quiet behind him. Blaine stood there, a towel around his waist, heading towards the bathroom. "It's okay, you know. It's just Coke. I'm sure I'll survive." His eyes glinted a bit with humour, until he saw the look in Kurt's. "Hey, no, don't worry about today. We're cool right?"

Kurt nodded, not trusting himself to speak without destroying that as well. "Good." Blaine pronounced, shuffling over and quick as lightning planting a kiss on his cheek, then continuing on to the bathroom.

"Oh my God." The words were whispered under his breath.

Blaine had kissed him.


	3. Chapter 3

Kurt was lying on the bed, some mindless banter going on in the background from the TV. Rachel was in the shower and Blaine had disappeared into his room and closed the door.

Blaine had kissed him. Kurt was contemplating never washing his cheek again, but scrunched his nose up at the thought. That just wasn't going to happen.

Maybe Rachel had been right earlier, maybe Blaine did have a crush on him. But how would that explain the late night excursions and text messages? He'd managed to embarrass himself on so many occasions in one day that if it weren't for the kiss he may have decided to lock himself in Rachel's room and never leave it.

But Rachel interrupted at that moment, dressed in her matching pink flannelette pyjamas and a towel wrapped around her head. "Would you mind braiding my hair?" Kurt let out a long agonising sigh. It wasn't that he minded because it was something he did quite often for the girls, but they had to know it was putting him out and they rarely helped whenever he needed a favour.

"You've been quiet this evening. Is something bothering you? Because I know I go quiet when something's bothering me, trying to hold all the emotion in, but that's not good for you Kurt. People like us need to let our feelings free or be consumed by them. It's a hazard of being a performer," she said in a rush, that annoying but so very Rachel way of hers.

"No Rachel. I'm fine. Just a little worn out from the day I guess. Come sit down here." Kurt gestured to the floor in front of where he was sitting up on the bed and casually ran a brush through her hair.

"You know you can talk to me right? We've been a lot less competitive this year so even if it was something bothering you about your performances I wouldn't tell a soul."

Kurt couldn't help the look he shot at the ceiling. "Rachel – it's, I'm fine. I know I can talk to you, don't worry."

"Kids? We're going out for the night. Feel free to order something for dinner, but judging by the very late lunch, you probably won't need it," came a voice from outside the door. Rachel's dad. Well, one of them anyway.

"Blaine? If you decide to go out with your friends send us a text and let us know, okay?" The emphasis on the 'your' in the sentence didn't go unnoticed by Kurt and Rachel, giggling at the blunt reference that he should get out more.

Kurt had been thinking about that earlier. Why had Blaine spent the entire (well, apart from his midnight rendezvous) weekend at home? It was unusual behaviour for the particularly popular Blaine Anderson.

"He's been home all weekend. That is really strange." Rachel's knack for stating the obvious striking again. "Why the sudden change I wonder?" She wiggled around on the floor.

"Rachel, your vague grip on reality is starting to slip." Kurt could see Rachel's pout in the reflection from her floor length mirror. Oops, that probably meant that she's seen his eyeroll earlier. Oh well.

"Kurt, I really think you're ignoring the obvious here. I'm telling you, he's not staying home for my benefit and…" She stopped rather abruptly and Kurt looked up from her hair. Oh. Blaine was leaning on the door frame with a smug sort of smirk on his face.

"What you guys talking about Rach?" The tone could have been condescending if not for the attached wink aimed at her.

"Nothing that concerns you, Blaine." He walked further into the room while Rachel spoke and flopped down on his stomach beside Kurt with his head facing Rachel's hair.

Ignoring the sibling rivalry and keeping his blush down to a minimum, Kurt tied off the braid and moved closer to the opposite end of the bed from Blaine, who was now happily sprawled all over it.

"How do you deal with all this pink? It's disgusting, Rachel. I'm sure if you spoke to Pops he could pick you up some new paint and you could make your room look like a grown-up's!" There was a patronising edge to his voice that Rachel immediately took offence at.

"Oh yay! Why didn't I think of that?" Rachel hopped up off the floor and sat on the other side of the end of the bed. "I could have dark brown walls and antique furniture too! And for added kicks, I could start dressing like a 50-year-old woman!" The end of the sentence came out as a snarl, all attempts at joking put on hold for a full scale AnderBerry war.

"On that note, I'm going for a shower." Kurt scooted off the bed before any pillows or other such artillery was thrown between the siblings.

"But you had one this morning?" Blaine looked as though he was trying desperately to hide the smile tugging on the side of his mouth.

"Are you asking me to justify my want for good hygiene?" Kurt raised an eyebrow ready to defend his shower to the ends of the earth, something he'd always been more than comfortable arguing about.

"Touché. Not at all. Good hygiene is important to classy young men in Ohio." What now? Kurt paused somewhere between picking up his overnight bag and standing back up, looking straight at Blaine.

His bright red cheeks could probably be seen from space and he was having the unfortunate trouble of not being able to move. Blaine thought he was classy, and a man. Well, of course he was a man but the distinct difference between being called a boy or a man was not lost on Kurt.

Trying to regain his balance and leave the room with some level of grace was difficult, but he managed it, closing the door to the bathroom heavily and this time making sure to snap the lock.

Kurt went through the motions of his skincare and shower routine, spending more time than he was willing to admit debating redoing his hair just because there was a possibility Blaine would hang out with them.

But no, that would be silly – Rachel would notice, and probably comment on it too. The same could be said for Kurt when the situation was reversed and it was Finn being lusted over by Kurt's houseguest.

Oh God, had he turned into Rachel?

No. No, he was just… contemplating maybe having feelings for Blaine. He was definitely not at Rachel Berry-level of insane Facebook stalking and long looks over the dinner table.

But she was at an advantage. Finn liked her back. They'd even dated for a while.

Blaine was older, more experienced. Probably in everything. He'd had boyfriends before – Rachel wasted no time in telling him every piece of gossip she heard every day and her brother was no exception.

There was no way he could be with Kurt even if there was some flirtatiousness in his actions. He had to be realistic here. A 17-year-old junior, picked on for being born with a sexuality against normal expectations. Not that he was ashamed of it, but he could see Blaine being the type of person who would flirt just to make him feel good for a little while.

He allowed his mind to wander, rubbing moisturiser into his neck, at what it would be like to date someone like Blaine – someone who no one judged for wearing bright bowties, who could be on the football team if he chose, or hang out with the drama crowd at lunch time, who had something in common with just about everyone and wasn't fazed walking up to anyone to start a conversation.

The daydream fizzled around the edges when he envisioned walking beside Blaine through the corridors, maybe holding hands or walking so close that holding hands wasn't necessary.

Until a bright blue slushie hit him in the face and splashed all over Blaine's green corduroy high waters and white shirt. Blaine's expression, even just in Kurt's imagination, was not impressed. He tried to improve it, thinking up various scenarios, some of which included helping Blaine out of his shirt.

He gave up, brushing his still-damp hair and headed back to Rachel's room, quelling the spark of disappointment when Blaine wasn't on the bed anymore.

"I kicked him out," Rachel said, following his eyes in the direction of the bed. "Now we can have a real conversation about this. We need too."

Kurt struggled to keep his face neutral so he didn't feed whatever story she had made up in her mind about what was going on between him and her brother.

"Kurt, he's got a thing for you, I'm sure of it. Now, I know that me being interested in Finn has made you uncomfortable but I want you to know that I don't expect you to hold yourself back from love just because Blaine's my brother." She barely paused to breathe. "I'm confident that this will be a good thing! How amazing would it be for us to all go and live in New York together?"

"I think you're getting a bit ahead of yourself here." He fought to keep a rather pained expression off his face. "He doesn't like me like that, and even if he did, it's not a plausible relationship. He'll be going off to college next year and I'll still be stuck in high school. Why are we even having this conversation again?"

But Rachel's enthusiasm over the idea had her bouncing on the spot on the bed, not having listened to a single word out of Kurt's mouth.

"We could get married there! Burt, Carol, Dad and Pops would only have to make one trip! It would be legal for you to get married in New York! How fantastic would that be? And Blaine and Finn get along so they could watch the game together on Sundays and we could set up a room to practice for our auditions- "

"Rachel, Rachel, stop! You're getting so worked up that you've missed a few minor details. One, Blaine will be going to college wherever the hell he likes. Two, Finn will most likely get a football scholarship for a college near Ohio. And Blaine and I are not together," he spat the last few words out, fighting with the urge to reach out and physically shake her and her twisted form of reality.

She stopped talking just long enough to catch the look on Kurt's face, exasperation painted in every line.

"This hurts. Just because I'm gay and he's gay does not mean we're going to fall in love and move to New York to raise insanely loud children with you and Finn…. It doesn't work like that."

He watched her face fall, recognition of the assumptions that she's made contorting her face into a light scowl. "Why do you think you're not good enough for Blaine?"

Kurt was completely sideswiped by that one.

"It's not that I don't think I'm good enough. I just don't think that he would be interested in pursuing any kind of relationship with a junior – a guy with a habit of pushing fashion boundaries and a high pitched voice and just…with me," the sentence tapered off, Kurt's admission ringing around the room like a bell.

"He likes you, Kurt." Something flashed in her eyes, a little hint that he hadn't been told the full extent of what she wanted to say. But Rachel, for the first time in history, promptly shut her mouth and pressed the play button on Strictly Ballroom, a favourite of theirs dug out of the deep, dark depths of Hiram's old VHS collection.

They positioned themselves on the bed, side by side laying on their stomachs and focused on the theatrics of the opening scenes. Rachel was asleep within the first thirty-five minutes, Kurt following shortly after, his lack of sleep the night before finally catching up with him.

It was dark, the static from the TV still on at the front of the bed irritating Kurt's sleep deprived eyes. He struggled to fight free from the side of the blanket he had twisted around his legs and settled the dizziness in his head until finally, he could stand.

Shuffling through the door and leaving the TV static playing in the room to ease his navigation back to bed, he went for a bathroom trip and a glass of water.

Kurt stood by the sink with his glass, blinking slowly and just trying not to fall asleep on his feet. There was a strange knocking sound outside the room, sounding like it could be Rachel moving around in bed, a habit of hers he would never get used too.

"You're up late."

Kurt's heart dropped to his feet and his body a foot in the air at the voice behind him.

"Blaine!"

Blaine grimaced. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you like that." He flicked on the light, causing Kurt's eyes to well up from the sudden exposure before he twisted the dimmer switch around.

Rapidly blinking and his hand settling against his chest to quell the rapid beating from his ribcage, Kurt rifled around in his mind for words.

"Speak for yourself." Unlike Kurt, Blaine was fully dressed – sweatpants, shirt and a jacket, and still holding his car keys.

"Yeah, I…" Kurt looked on expectantly while Blaine took off his jacket to hang on the pegs near the door, wincing in pain. It didn't look like he intended to continue the explanation.

"It's late. I'm gonna head to bed." That was it? Kurt had been expecting a bit more than that.

"Wait, Blaine… A-are you okay?" The words came out a bit stuttered, but the meaning was clear.

"I'm fine, Kurt. Nothing to worry your pretty little head about." And he left, quietly ascending the stairs, leaving Kurt in a state of shock.

Pretty?


	4. Chapter 4

Kurt still woke early. No matter how hard he tried, it was impossible to sleep past 7, even if he'd been up a few times during the night. The twinging feeling of an impending headache started almost as soon as he opened his eyes, sighing and pulling off the blankets to go downstairs to put coffee on.

The amount of time he'd spent as a guest in Rachel's house in the past few months was ridiculous really. But they had the best sleepovers – no fighting over which movies to watch or sitting through awkward as hell sex scenes together, because you don't have that problem when all you watch is 1950s musicals.

Picking a cup out of the cupboard and starting the coffee machine, Kurt unconsciously went through the scene from earlier that morning in his head. Blaine coming in, the wince as he'd taken off his jacket and the not-so-subtle 'pretty little head' comment.

Did that mean Blaine thought he was pretty or was he just using the common phase because he couldn't think of any other at the time? It would really help if he had some experience to draw on, but guys just didn't act like that with him. It usually alternated between general unpleasantness or 'don't touch me in case you transfer your gayness'.

On the other hand he trusted Rachel. She may be completely self-centred and melodramatic to a fault, but she'd been in a few relationships. She knew flirting and apparently, Blaine had been flirting pretty hard with him all weekend. But if Blaine had decided to take an interest in him, what caused the change?

Unfortunately every question prompted more questions in Kurt's head and it really wasn't getting him anywhere. Instead, he took the finally-brewed coffee and turned the news on in the family room. It was aptly named – the lounge suite was a positive shrine to Blaine and Rachel. They hadn't grown up together. Rachel was with their fathers from almost the moment she was born. Blaine had been adopted when he was ten. Leroy had wanted to adopt a second child for years, but the idea of starting from scratch didn't appeal to either him or his husband.

They looked for a year for someone who would fit into the fold and not buckle under Rachel's competitive nature. Enter Blaine. Kurt didn't know the full story but there was mention of a solo-off at the orphanage when Rachel insisted that she would only take a brother or sister if they matched her talent.

Neither could tell him who had one that bout, each insisting that it was them, of course, but they didn't sing against each other in competition anymore. It was strictly for fun. Kurt figured that Hiram and Leroy put a stop to it because, honestly, they were fairly evenly matched and what must have been 30,000 private viewings of said performances must have been a bit much, even for them.

So that's why when the Glee clubbers were given pairing names, and even though Blaine wasn't technically a member (he just showed up occasionally while waiting for Rachel to be finished), they were given Anderberry. Plus all the good 'chele' names had been used already.

"You're up early." Kurt was jolted out of his reverie by Leroy, holding a cup of coffee and settling himself down on the opposite couch. "You must be the only guest we've ever had here who makes a pot of coffee before I get up in the morning. It's a nice change."

Kurt smiled. He did the same thing at home. Ever the early riser, he didn't know what they would do if he ever slept in.

"I'm glad I caught you this morning, Kurt, been meaning to have a little chat with you." Okay, this was new. He couldn't help the deer-in-the-headlights look on his face.

"Guilty conscience? You're not about to get in trouble here, unless you have something to confess?" Kurt shook his head, distinctly working on keeping his breathing normal. Not that he'd done anything wrong, but there were probably going to be uncomfortable questions and being prepared never hurt.

"I just wanted to know how you are, how's school? Are you getting used to living with Finn and Carol? Are you happy?" No big deal, just three of the most loaded questions he could have possibly asked.

The trick was answering with just enough information to close the subject. Kurt did that all the time with his father. "School's okay. I'm in Glee club with Rachel so that's fun. It's great having Carol around. She makes my dad really happy too, and I'm getting used to Finn, though it'll be easier when we have our own rooms." He paused to take a breath.

Was he happy? That was a tough question. There were certainly moments where he was, moments like in the morning before he left for school, or when he put together a particularly good outfit. When he was here at Rachel's though…there wasn't any expectation here, what with Hiram and Leroy having been together forever and Blaine being gay as well. It was like a breath of fresh air once every two weeks.

There would never be any judgment here, and Rachel, as per usual, didn't care if he was gay or not because it really didn't affect her and her life.

"I'm fine. There's a bit of pressure at school, but it's nothing I can't handle. To be honest, I'm kinda used to it." His tone was resigned.

"So no one's… giving you trouble there? I know that you have Rachel, Finn and the rest of your Glee friends there." He sighed "I just know what high school is like, and you've been a bit…withdrawn lately."

Huh. Leave it to Rachel's dad to notice that he'd been withdrawn.

With an uncomfortable shuffle on the chair and a sip of his rapidly cooling coffee, Kurt let the silence hang for a minute before answering. "I'm okay, Leroy. I really do appreciate your concern though, and it's nice to know there are people around that care enough to check up on me." He smiled fixedly. "Thank you."

With that, the conversation was over, and they both turned towards the TV until the others dragged themselves out of bed one by one.

Leroy made crepes for breakfast before Kurt went home at 10 to get ready for his shift at the garage. An uneventful afternoon followed, the usual quiet Sunday where Kurt did more paperwork than repairs – a good thing considering it gave Burt a chance to rest up in the office.

School, on the other hand…

He'd never been happy at McKinley. Since the moment Kurt had stepped foot in the halls, there had been an air of disdain towards him that he couldn't quite place, but felt like an overcast shadow following him around.

Kurt's timetable for the day included English, French, Mathematics, a not long enough lunch break, and double Gym all before Glee rehearsals in the afternoon. Monday was the absolute worst day of the week. The only small mercy was Mr Schue waving off his tardiness in the afternoon after gym. Luckily, he could mill around until almost all of the boys were out of the locker room before showering, then casually getting dressed in one of only two stalls available. He had double gym twice during the week, but the second was on Thursday right before the final bell so he was able to skip the locker room awkwardness completely and just go home to the safety of his own bathroom.

Glee club that afternoon felt very long. He was tired, sore and over the day. The only thing that had gone right was his exceptional outfit (dark jeans, white button up shirt, white Doc Martins and a dark green vest with white calligraphy).

It was five minutes until the end of the day when Kurt realised he'd left his gym bag on the ledge in the locker room. He kept it separate from his regular bag because he didn't want the sweaty gym clothes marring his regular school bag.

"Mr Schue, can I be excused? I left my bag in the locker room." Mr Schue nodded his approval, and went back to trying to cut off Santana's diatribe about why every song in their repartee was wrong for sectionals.

He raced down the corridors back towards the locker room. If Kurt was lucky, he could get in and out before the football team took over the place. Entering carefully, and looking around Mission Impossible-style, he didn't see anyone. Letting out his breath, he picked up his bag and turned around to leave as soon as possible when he heard the door crash open from one of the stalls in the corner.

"Crap," he hissed to himself, upping his pace to the door.

"Kurt?" The voice was soft, much softer than he'd been expecting. Kurt turned around, simultaneously trying to keep his jaw from the floor and create a coherent reply.

Blaine was wet. Well, no, technically it was just his hair that was wet, but Kurt had never seen it without the 2.5 containers of gel Blaine insisted on using every single day. Even on weekends.

The red highwater pants outlined his strong calf muscles and his hair was dripping onto the plain black tee, creating damp spots near the neck. Well shit.

"Hi… Just picking up my bag." Kurt was aiming for a nonchalant shrug, but he managed to tip the balance on his bag and drop it with a loud thump on the floor beside him. Blushing and mumbling on, "I didn't expect anyone else to be in here."

"Kurt, you're blushing." Well, thank you, Mr Stating-The-Obvious, glad I could amuse you with my complete and utter embarrassment today.

"Yeah, it's quite…warm in here." Now who was stating the obvious? Right, time to make a graceful exit so he could melt into a crack in the earth and never be seen again. Especially by Blaine, in that outfit, looking obnoxiously hot and... Yeah.

"I've got to get back to class, the bell's about to ring." Kurt turned to walk away, re-shouldering his gym bag and looking at the floor.

"Kurt, stop?" Blaine had dashed over and put a hand on his shoulder to halt him.

"I really… enjoyed spending time with you this weekend …" Blaine's sentence trailed off and he ran a hand through his still-dripping hair. "Are you going to be over next weekend?"

"We usually alternate, you know that. This week is Rachel's turn to come to my house for the night. Although I'm pretty sure she only insists because Finn's there, but it's tradition none the less."

"Oh yeah. Cool." Blaine looked like he wanted to say more, but instead sidled towards the door.

Kurt got the idea and went for the doorhandle but Blaine got there first and held a hand on the door, his knuckles whitened while he stood still, looking at Kurt.

"I should go…" Stating the obvious was, apparently, a habit.

Trying to think of one of his normal quick-witted responses and failing miserably, Kurt responded with a simple "Yeah."

Instead, they stood there for a few seconds longer.

Kurt noticed the little twitches in Blaine's hand, like the signal between brain and appendage had been lost while making the decision to let him out of the locker room.

When Blaine's lips touched his chastely, a split second of soft, warm intoxication and a barrage of the scent of shower gel mixed with Blaine, Kurt decided that Monday was officially the best day of the week.


	5. Chapter 5

Blaine had kissed him.

Not just a peck on the cheek in the kitchen at god-knows-what time of night, but actually kissed him.

Blaine Anderson kissed Kurt Hummel.

Blaine Anderson-Hummel.

Kurt Hummel-Anderson.

Blaine Hummel.

Kurt Anderson.

Sufficed to say, Kurt's homework was not getting anywhere. He had, however, discovered that Kurt Anderson-Hummel had a really nice ring to it.

By Thursday afternoon, he had one more day until he could relax and unwind for the weekend. Rachel had gotten her phone confiscated in class earlier that day when Kurt had been writing back about which homemade facemasks they could try on Friday. Kurt's excited meanderings were cut short when he remembered that they would be at his house Friday night.

Not Rachel's. No Blaine for the whole weekend. Maybe he could convince his dad to let him stay over Rachel's on Saturday night, another 2 night weekend in a row… He doubted his dad would go for it, but maybe if it was just subtle put the idea in Rachel's head on Friday night, ideally causing her to ask while they were eating dinner…

It wouldn't take much to convince her. It would be worth it.

If they went to bed late enough tomorrow, she would be asleep before 10 on Saturday night leaving him to pursue his own interests: namely, finding out if Blaine was pursuing or playing him.

Kurt didn't have much knowledge about flirting, or…sex. But he could use what he did know without a single unsavoury thought.

Homework forgotten, left on his desk for whenever, Kurt focused on his wardrobe instead. Despite Finn and Burt's never ending comments about how many clothes he owned in comparison with the rest of the house at large, it was only a little bigger then strictly necessary.

There was one jacket. One he hadn't worn to school or Rachel's or even out. He started rifling through his cupboard, pulling from the back a black garment bag. Kurt hugged it to himself for a moment, before unzipping it and taking the jacket out.

It was predominantly grey, with black panels down the front and around the neck, zipping diagonally across the front with the zipper unfolding to create one half of the collar. High-collared (naturally), it fit perfectly with his black and white button down t-shirt. Kurt's first instinct was to go with traditional black skinny jeans, but he wanted to shock. Looking through his jeans and tossing a few to the side, he came across his favourite pair of white jeans, matched with a silver belt and his favourite black knee high Doc Martins which would be perfect.

He looked into the mirror critically, turning to each side and inspecting his own handiwork. This was it. With the addition of a small silver bowtie brooch, Kurt declared the ensemble complete and set to work putting it away inside the black coat bag.

Now there was just the small matter of finding the perfect time to wear it.

School the next day was long and boring, as Friday's had a habit of being, especially when he was clock-watching. Lunch break offered a small reprieve as he gathered a small array of food and moving to sit with the Glee club members that shared the same break period.

"Hey Kurt, I'm so excited about tonight! Friday night dinner, then we can sneak away, right? I went and picked up the eggs and avocado yesterday, but we need to stop by my house to pick them up after school. There was no way I was going to put them in my school bag all day, or my locker for that matter." Rachel must have run out of oxygen, her sentence stopping abruptly.

"That's not a problem."

He was going to say more than that, there was definitely an end to that sentence, but Blaine walked into the cafeteria with a smile on his face that could light up the whole room. Kurt watched his eyes – he was talking to someone on the right – but his eyes were scanning the tables apparently looking for something or someone in particular.

A volt of electricity shot up Kurt's spine. Was it him?

But instead Blaine went in to sit down with a group of seniors out-of-view from the front of the cafeteria where Kurt was sitting trying not to let the disappointment show on his face.

With that he idly picked up the conversation with Rachel again, soon distracted by the enthusiasm of their plans.

By the end of the day, he was furious, wondering what kind of teacher gave a pop quiz in the final hour of a Friday afternoon? Apparently his teacher, because the one that sprung on his class had to have led to them performing miserably, too distracted by the idea of two days off school to properly focus or care about doing well. But when it was over, Rachel and Kurt left together. Rachel had walked to school, so it was easy enough to hop in Kurt's car and drive the two minutes to her house.

The driveway was empty and within minutes the pair were back in the car headed to the Hudson-Hummel residence.

Rachel's head snapped up when they turned the corner to Kurt's house. He had noticed it too, but waited the ten seconds it took Rachel to react properly.

"Why is Blaine's car here? How come he's at your house, Kurt? Why didn't you tell me you invited him over too? I thought we were having a girl's night…" When she finally stopped talking, probably noticing Kurt shaking his head at her words, they got out of the car and went inside.

It wasn't until they walked up the stairs that they heard noise coming from Finn's and Kurt's room, a battle cry that added to his confusion. Blaine was already at his house, but was he playing computer games with Finn in his room? He'd never shown any interest in that before now. Wait.

Blaine was in his bedroom.

"Kurt," Rachel hissed at him, "why is Blaine here playing computer games with Finn?"

"How the hell would I know?" Kurt hissed back, equally taken aback by the irony of the situation. "Let's just go and hang out in the den. It's not like they'll notice us now anyways." Oh shit. He'd just said that out loud.

"Kurt?" He'd never forget her face when Rachel Berry found out that he had a crush on her brother.

"Shut up."

"You like him don't you?"

"Shut up."

"Oh my God, you do! You have a crush on Blaine!" Rachel skipped the rest of the way to the den, grabbing his hand and pulling him along behind her. "Why didn't you tell me? I presumed he had a thing for you, but why didn't you tell me those feelings were reciprocated from you.Oh my God, this is perfect."

"Rachel!" Kurt shoved her onto the couch. "Seriously, shut up. Why can't you be like normal sisters and be all horrified that I may or may not have a very slight crush on your older brother?"

"Because it's too fabulous to be normal! Besides, I've had a crush on Finn for ages and nothing short of hitting him across the face with a wet fish will make him notice me. But now he's hanging out with Blaine and that means every time he looks at him, Finn will think of me!"

Kurt breathed out slowly, counting to ten before continuing the conversation. "I just don't think it works like that. Your brother is nothing like you, which I'm particularly grateful for every day."

It wasn't completely true. There were definitely similarities between Blaine and Rachel: the way they lit up the stage when performing, their competitive natures and the way that occasionally, they needed to be brought down a peg or two.

"Right. Rach with Blaine and Finn in the other room, facemasks are out of the question, at least until he goes home. I'm not getting caught with lumpy green avocado on my face under any circumstances."

"What if he doesn't go home? It's an opportunity for you guys to spend some time together!" Her eyes flashed with excitement.

Kurt sighed. "Don't be ridiculous. I share a room with Finn. I'll be so glad when we finally move out of this house."

"That's coming up in a few weeks, isn't it?" That was another thing Rachel and Blaine had in common – when they were excited they had a tendency to bounce on the spot, like the excitement was impossible to contain in their tiny little bodies and they just had to release it, or explode.

Sometime during that conversation Carole had gotten home from work and started dinner, because an amazing smell started to permeate the den. Food was probably the only thing that would rouse Finn from his game anyway.

"Yeah, three weeks and counting. It's going to be amazing. I'll have my own bathroom." Kurt grinned like a Cheshire cat. Sharing with Finn was long past torturous. "Anyway, let's go help Carole with dinner."

Rachel followed Kurt out of the den and into the kitchen, where Finn and Blaine were sitting near the counter. "I can help if you like Mrs-"

"Carole. I've told you already, call me Carole." She looked kind of flustered, being charmed by Blaine already.

"But the offer stands C-Carole. If you need me to do anything, just let me know."

Smooth operator.

Or jerk.

"Oh, hi Finn." Rachel placed herself in the chair directly next to Finn and smiled somewhat maniacally.

Carole was buzzing around the kitchen, suddenly full of teenagers (and evidently hormones). "Are you staying for dinner too, Blaine?" she questioned, rifling through the fridge for salad ingredients.

"Yeah dude, you should stay. Then we could watch a movie or play another round." Finn was surprisingly forthcoming.

How did this even happen? Kurt was sure Finn and Blaine had never hung out before, apart from at school, and he would know. Now, all of a sudden there was games, hanging out and dinner?

"If that's okay… I'll just let dad know." Blaine wandered out of the room and Kurt pounced on Finn.

"Is this new?" he questioned with a toss of his head in the direction Blaine went.

Finn looked confused. "What? Blaine? No, he's been around a while."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "No, the hanging-out together out-of-school thing."

Finally catching on, Finn explained. "Puck was coming over tonight, but he got a better offer, so he suggested I invite Blaine over. It was a good one. The guy's great at Mortal Combat."

In the meantime, Rachel and Carole had started their own conversation about vegetarian cooking. Soon they were all sitting around the dinner table, eating vegetarian lasagne and chatting about anything and everything.

Burt got home from work ten minutes earlier to find the kitchen overrun with animated teenagers. He sat back, looking at them one by one – Rachel, Finn, Kurt and Blaine immersed in their own conversations.

"So, what are the sleeping arrangements tonight? Because I may be old but I'm not stupid. There is no way you're all sharing the basement tonight."

The conversation stopped instantly.

"Oh no Mr–" Blaine started.

"Burt."

Blaine blushed a little "I'm not staying tonight. Just dinner and a movie, then I'm off home. I have plans a bit later on." He shifted on his chair nervously.

"It's 7.30 now. After a movie, you'd be heading home about 10pm. What the hell kind of plans would you have that late on a Friday?"

"Burt!" Carole admonished and rolled her eyes. "That's none of your business. He's answered your question now shush."

Burt looked affronted until he shrugged and finished his dinner. Blaine looked mortified, Rachel confused and Finn impressed.

Kurt didn't know what to think. Blaine seemed to have regular plans late on Friday nights, but the lead into the conversation he'd been planning had been handed to him on a platter. He'd be a fool not to take it.

"Dad, if I may?" Burt looked at him with an eyebrow raised. "I really need to get some extra practice in for a duet this week with Rachel. Could I sleep over at her house tomorrow?"

Rachel piped up, of course. "Yes Burt, the assignments very important! We could use all the time we've got this weekend to work on it and my dads have a stage in the basement for practice so it would be a lot easier for us to practice there." She didn't stop for air once. Kurt was always impressed.

"So you'll be working the Sunday afternoon shift then, Kurt?" Burt inquired.

"Yes dad," was all he had to say.

Burt huffed a sigh. "Fine, fine. Go stay at Rachel's, and stay out of trouble."

Kurt internally squirmed with excitement. He'd chosen his outfit and now he had a reason to wear it.

His plan was coming together beautifully.


	6. Chapter 6

Friday night was appallingly anticlimactic. Carole, Burt, Rachel and Kurt watched The Green Mile, while Finn and Blaine fought through a few rounds of Mortal Combat downstairs.

It had looked like they would stay and watch the movie upstairs, but Finn had bailed the second he found out what they were watching. Blaine looked torn for a moment because it was a favourite of his, but at the end of the day he was there to hang out with Finn, so he went downstairs.

Rachel looked put out but didn't say anything in front of Burt and Carole. Kurt, meanwhile, used the time to stop thinking. Stop thinking about Blaine and his stupid hair and his innocuous comments and his annoyingly cheerful demeanour and his light-up-the-room smile.

By the time Blaine came out and said goodbye for the night, Kurt hadn't seen focused on three-quarters of the movie. They used that time to pause and set up a mattress on the floor for Rachel and Kurt, as Burt had been pretty clear when they started these sleepovers that Kurt and Rachel wouldn't be staying in the same room as Finn at night.

The movie finished just before midnight. Burt had been snoozing in his chair for the better part of an hour and Carole looked ready to pass out at any moment. Rachel lolled out over the bed, looking tired, but not nearly tired enough.

"Night kids. Don't stay up too late talking, okay?" Carole shooed Burt off to bed and immediately Rachel turned over.

"You planned that conversation over dinner, didn't you?" The first words out of her mouth accusatory but said with a knowing smile.

"I don't know what you mean? The bowties? No, I'd always intended to discuss Blaine's bowtie addiction, we just don't usually get a chance." He needed to nonchalant even though she clearly knew what she was talking about.

"About coming to stay at my house tomorrow night. What are you planning? Don't play coy with me Kurt. I know you a bit better than that." She had him cornered now.

"I just thought we should practice on our assignment for next week and spend some extra time with my – though it pains me to say it – best friend?" Kurt couldn't help but notice the way her smile got a little bit bigger with his words. It was almost painful. They were constantly in competition for attention in Glee, one-upping each other at every turn. It wasn't often either of them admitted how much they enjoyed just spending time together.

The brothers weren't helping though.

Rachel shifted on the bed, buzzing with whatever thoughts were moving around in her head. "Tonight was a good start, you know. We should send Puck a pizza or something." Rachel was positively beaming.

What?

Kurt tried to supress the shock, but it must have been written all over his face because Rachel continued. "Think about it, Kurt. It was Puck's idea to get Blaine over here tonight. Now him and Finn have common interests that they know about. This could be brilliant if we play them right! My magnificent double wedding would come together perfectly and we will all live happily ever after!"

Kurt rested his forehead against him palm. "Rachel. Yes, Blaine and Finn spending time together is good, it's good for them and yeah, it's kind of good for us, but you have got to get this ridiculous notion out of your head."

Rachel's face fell instantly. "No, Kurt I wasn't presuming-"

He cut her off before she could start on another tangent. "There is no way in hell we're having a double wedding. Could you imagine the clash of pink and cyan? No, just no." It hadn't taken much to bring that sparkle back onto her face.

"Oh, so you have considered it?"

Kurt just shook his head and let out a poorly-supressed laugh.

Rachel's phone chimed quietly, a myriad of emotions playing across her features and a rather sharp intake of breath. A minute later, she excused herself to the bathroom.

XXX

Kurt woke to obnoxious sunlight streaming into his face. They'd forgotten the curtains again. Why did they always forget the damn curtains?

He glanced at the clock, and sighed 6.30 am, of course. Rachel must have come back after he'd dozed off, which meant she must have gotten lost on the way to the bathroom.

Which meant she'd gotten lost in the basement. With Finn.

Why did it hurt that she and Finn could pursue their…whatever it was called – but he didn't even know if Blaine was interested in him? Why couldn't it just be easy, with mutual affection and hand holding?

There was no way Kurt could tell Blaine that he liked him. He just couldn't. What if Rachel was wrong and Blaine was just using him as entertainment for the weekend? An amusing diversion while he was away from his…whatever he did late at night.

Why the hell was he sneaking out late at night anyway?

Deciding not to waste more time trying to puzzle out what the hell was going on in Blaine's head, Kurt got up to put on a pot of coffee and then headed towards the shower.

He couldn't lose it now. Kurt was going to find out Blaine's intentions, or die trying.

So he showered, threw on some of his less-than-nice clothes and made egg-white omelettes with whole grain toast for everyone, managing to make just enough noise to wake the entire house up in time to eat it.

After breakfast, Rachel and Kurt packed up the family room and then went to get changed. He pulled the outfit he had planned to wear out of his wardrobe and changed into it. He re-styled his hair, biting his lip in the mirror. It was an amazing choice, fit for going out at an exclusive restaurant or even a date…

Trotting down the stairs with his overnight bag over his shoulder, Kurt was stopped abruptly when Burt barked with laughter from the open doorway.

"Kurt." Burt's eyes roamed over the outfit he was wearing.

"Dad," he replied, motioning with his head innocently.

"Where are you going… dressed like that?" He motioned with his hand at Kurt's outfit, causing an eyeroll from his son.

"We're going to Rachel's, dad. Surely you can't have forgotten so soon?" Making a reference to Burt's aging memory was probably not the smartest move at this point, no matter how accurate.

"So, you have a thing for the brother, do you?" Burt was nothing if not straight to the point.

"What? No!" Oops, too fast.

"Thought so. You were fidgety while we were watching the movie last night. This is what the newfound spending-all-weekend-at-Rachel's thing is?" Burt's tone was resigned, standing up against the doorframe.

"It's not a new thing, dad. I've been spending the night at Rachel's for ages," he said, crossing his arms and looking his father straight in the eyes. Kurt wasn't lying. Not really.

"Maybe... But this is new. The dressing to impress a certain person," Burt commented, pointing at the outfit. There was nothing wrong with it. It wasn't revealing or even as risqué as some of the things Kurt had left the house in, tied-up corset pants for instance.

But he looked good. Older. Distinctly out to impress. It had heartbreak written all over it, and what father wanted that for their son?

"You need to be clear with me here, Kurt. Are the rules different at Rachel's because her dads are gay?" Burt's voice came out guff, the closest it ever got to emotional.

Because he thought that Kurt went over there to sleep with Blaine. Holy shit, this just got awkward. Kurt blushed so completely, he was probably fluorescent, "What? Dad, NO! It's not like that. We're not like that! Even if it came to that... God, he doesn't even like me like that!" He just wanted to melt into the floorboards.

"Kurt?" It was some consolation that Burt sounded like he really didn't want to be having this conversation either. "He's older, isn't he? A senior? Just know what you're getting yourself into here. I don't know how different it is but… Just be careful okay. I don't want to see you hurt. " He gazed at Kurt a moment longer before turning and walking away.

That conversation could have gone so many ways: Burt saying he couldn't keep going to Rachel's all the time, or telling him to change his clothes, or making the whole thing into a conversation about sex. But Rachel was standing by the door, and praise to whatever, instead of bringing her into it, he'd just walked away.

Kurt popped his head into the kitchen long enough to say a quick goodbye to his dad and Carole, Rachel echoing beside him, and they left.

How does someone go about their day normally when they have a crush on someone? Kurt's thoughts struggled to be processed properly, walking becoming a task he had to think about. And he could forget about speaking coherent sentences.

By the time they got to Rachel's, Kurt was a mess.

Any shred of confidence he'd had prancing around in front of his mirror at home was lost the second he walked through the front door.

"We should watch a movie or something Kurt. You're radiating nerves. I think your 'may or may not' crush just got very real. You need to calm down. Why don't we go and practice our song for Glee? Or at the very least choose one?"

That was the moment.

Kurt turned around on the spot, ready to snipe a comment at Rachel about keeping her damn voice down, when he saw Blaine standing just outside of his room in the hallway, hand resting on the doorknob as if he had every intention of going inside back to whatever he did in here for hours on end.

But he was frozen in place. He must have overheard their conversation. He can't not have heard the conversation.

Fuck.

"I'm going to go get a drink." Rachel turned on her heel and walked off, neither Kurt nor Blaine acknowledged it.

"Kurt, can we talk? Come here."

His legs worked, getting all the way to the bedroom door relatively unscathed. Kurt's heartbeat wasn't nearly as cooperative, warring between beating out of his chest and sinking to the floor.

He'd only been in the house four minutes, and he was in Blaine's room with the door closed. He would be impressed if it wasn't under such mortifying conditions.

"Hi," Blaine started, before he was interrupted by Rachel yelling through the door.

"No worries, Blaine. Just lock yourselves in the bedroom! I understand!" she shouted, her stomping footsteps stomping echoing down the hallway. Blaine made to call something back at her through the door but Kurt waved his hand to shush him.

"That's not what I said when you took so long in the bathroom last night that I fell asleep," Kurt said. He heard a muffled grunt and she was quiet.

"Hi," Kurt finally replied, as if nothing had happened.

"Your jacket is amazing." Kurt wasn't sure if it was a compliment, or a means to keep the conversation from getting more awkward.

"Thanks. It's new." He was still standing near the door, the only place to sit was the bed, and… no.

"Kurt, I like you." Wait. What? This was Blaine,still categorised under older best friend's brother and untouchable.

Blaine liked him. He had to be playing some kind of joke because this sort of thing didn't happen to Kurt. What if it was just a game? Just someone for him to fool around with on the weekends?

He didn't know how long the response took to come out. Blaine was looking at him somewhat nervously. Maybe he was telling the truth and maybe it would be okay to admit that, yeah, Kurt liked him too.

But he already knew that! It took away any element of surprise. This could all have come from the fact that he'd heard that Kurt liked him and knew that the silly little boy would give him whatever he wanted.

He wanted to agree, to be brave and open, proud of his feelings but it was too new, too delicate if Blaine was playing him and just expected to be able to mess around on the weekend … or if he was really interested and how did people do this? Put their hearts out on the line, and not get them shattered into a thousand pieces?

And then suddenly he was saying he liked Blaine too before he even knew it and he stumbled over the words which didn't sound convincing to his ears. He wondered how it sounded to Blaine.

"Could I…kiss you? Properly this time?" Blaine sure as hell wasn't wasting any time.

"Okay," Kurt squeaked, face heating.

"Awesome." The conversation may have been over but Blaine was close enough to run a finger down the collar of his jacket, tracing down the zip and looking into Kurt's eyes.

It was a move that was clearly well-thought out this time, with plenty of opportunity to pull back, or run away. Instead Kurt felt himself be pushed ever so slightly into the closed door, close enough for their breath to mingle and hands to interlace.

When Blaine kissed him properly, Kurt didn't know it would be accompanied by Blaine's body pressing his against the door, fitting together perfectly before their lips had even touched. Kurt's senses overloaded as soon as Blaine's lips were on his with a warm and persistent pressure.

There was a distant noise through the door, of the front door opening and closing.

Blaine pulled back and buried his face into Kurt's shoulder, words muffling against the skin. "My dad's just gotten home and there are two gay teenage boys locked in a room together, me and my sister's best friend. Just to warn you Kurt, we're probably going to get a lecture about this," he sighed as he pulled away, but Kurt caught his shoulder with the intention of pulling him back for just a few more seconds.

Blaine winced and visibly bent at the knees with a sharp intake of breath. Kurt moved his hand like he'd been burned and looked at Blaine's shoulder curiously.

"I'll tell you about that later. First let's try and get out of here without dad noticing."


	7. Chapter 7

How do you define two people who like each other but aren't dating, haven't made any plans to date, and are mutually attracted to one another?

How do you explain to a very concerned father that just because Kurt and Blaine were locked in a room together while there were no supervising adults present, does not mean that they were doing anything deemed 'inappropriate' by Burt Hummel's standards, because when it came to Kurt, it was Burt's rules that stood.

Blaine was older. He'd been given a lot more space to make his own informed decisions, but Kurt was still considered a minor and as such, would not be given free rein to lock himself in a bedroom with Blaine under any circumstances while under the Anderson/Berry roof.

Blaine was ferociously red. They'd tried to execute a sneak0out while Hiram was placing his shopping bags in the kitchen, but just as he'd stepped out to retrieve another load from the car, he'd seen the boys trying to run to Rachel's room.

"Blaine, Kurt. What are you doing? Is there an explanation why you're both so eager to get to Rachel's room before you're caught?"

Kurt had panicked. It was always better to be honest with parents, so he's quickly babbled out "We were just chatting in Blaine's room about some stuff from school." Well. Partly honest was better than a bald-faced lie, wasn't it?

"Talking?" Hiram looked at Blaine.

"Talking," Blaine repeated back at him, obviously a lot more accustomed to dealing with his father's disapproval.

"Why wasn't Rachel included in this," he added quotation marks with his hands, "talking?"

"Because no matter how much Rachel would like to have the world believe, not everything in the universe revolves around her." Blaine met his father's gaze straight on, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

"Right, you two. Family room. Now." Hiram's tone brokered no attempt at a refusal, so they both tried to look as innocent as possible. Blaine grazed his fingertips across Kurt's palm while Hiram's back was turned, trying to re-assure him that everything would be fine.

Meanwhile, Kurt was having a minor panic attack under his cool, calm and collected exterior. What if this got back to his father? Shit. Blaine was the first guy who'd ever shown the slightest bit of interest in even possibly, maybe wanting to be more than friends with him, Kurt Hummel, the pale, gay kid that half the school avoided, with the fabulous fashion sense and high-pitched voice, who had only just recently come out and was still developing his pride and place in the world, among other things.

Blaine was going to run for the hills, he could see it now. One awkward fatherly conversation with Hiram and he would be there with his apologies and disgustingly honest smile. 'Sorry, we can't do this, even though there was never a 'this' to begin with' or 'we'll just pretend it never happened, you're Rachel's best friend after all,' or worst of all, Blaine could pretend it never happened.

That would probably hurt most out of all the possible forms of rejection, because Kurt had never been the type to kiss someone without wanting it to mean something. Hell he'd never been the type to kiss someone at all, accepting he would have to wait until college and get out of this backwards town to have what he really wanted.

There was one peel of light in this whole mess. There was one tiny spark of hope left. Blaine had known there would be a lecture from his dad if they were discovered. And he had touched Kurt's hand. That small, almost insignificant, gesture was keeping Kurt from full breakdown mode.

Maybe, just maybe, Blaine would still want him.

The conversation between Blaine and Hiram had continued in the background of Kurt's musings. They'd managed to diverge onto a whole new subject of comparing the fact that Kurt and Blaine were in Blaine's room, but what if Finn had been in Rachel's.

And God, Kurt could see that Blaine had not planned this argument at all because he was trying to point out inconsistencies that didn't exist in his house. Sure, the argument could work for Kurt but that's because Burt wasn't knowledgeable on homosexuality. Hiram, on the other hand, had him beat.

"I see your point Blaine, and it's not going to happen. I can't stop you two from seeing each other, not that I would even want to," making both Kurt and Blaine simultaneously breathe with relief. "All I ask is that you show respect for the house and leave doors open when you guys are hanging out. I ask the same from Rachel, and I'm positive that Burt expects the same from Kurt."

Hiram finished off his spiel with a steely glance. "If I have to re-evaluate the rules later, I'll consider it. But for now, this is my house and you're all expected to behave a certain way while you're in it. Kurt, do I need to speak to Burt about this?"

Kurt blanched, imagining the levels of awkward that would bring up, especially after that morning's awkward conversation. He really did not want to repeat that again anytime soon.

"No sir, I understand completely and you're right. Any further discussions about school can happen with the door open," Kurt was quick to say, his eyes earnest.

"Fantastic. Do either of you know where Rachel went? I'm going to repeat this conversation with her, right now, and make sure we're all on the same page about this stuff." Hiram wandered off in the direction of Rachel's room, knocking on the door quietly and disappearing out of sight.

"Oh my God, that was awkward," Blaine rushed out in one breath.

And his heart was back to hammering. What would happen now? A clenched knot had formed around Kurt's throat.

Blaine, seemingly undeterred by the conversation with Hiram, shuffled around to face him on the couch. "You know my dad doesn't really mind don't you?"

"Right. That's what you took from that speech?" Kurt raised an eyebrow.

Blaine was momentarily taken aback by the swiftness of Kurt's response. "No, no. He made a good point that yes, you are underage, and it was irresponsible for me to close and lock the door…" he trailed off, looking anywhere but at Kurt.

"Does that mean you regret it?" It was said painfully quiet as Kurt found something fascinating to watch out the window.

"What? No! Why would you think that?"

Kurt shrugged. I'm just scared that you're going to take everything you said to me thirty minutes ago and shove it back in my face. "Because…I don't?"

"Good." He brightened immediately, which was apparently a family trait. "Does that mean you would consider… going on a date with me?" Blaine's eyes searched to meet his, a hint of a smile creeping onto his face.

A date.

A date with Blaine Anderson.

Well, if nothing else came out of this night, Kurt had learned that dressing to impress had certainly helped.

The pause had gone on too long, and he should probably work on trying to form a coherent response Did he want to go on a date with Blaine? Would it be awkward and scary and a little difficult to ask his dad for permission? Yes.

Would it be worth it? Yes.

"Yes."

Blaine's face lit up like a Christmas tree, and his hand moved to rest on top of Kurt's on the couch. The skin there came alive with electricity and the knot in Kurt's chest finally started to dissipate, being replaced with the heavy thrum of his heart, which could surely be heard around the room.

Moving closer on the couch and pulling Kurt's hand towards him to meet them halfway, Blaine wrapped his arms around him, a kind of awkward angle because they were sitting next to each other, but at least it wasn't as much of a surprise when Blaine placed his hand on the side of Kurt's face.

"You're beautiful." It was quiet, so quiet that Kurt wouldn't have heard it, but every sense was heightened, tingling at the touch of a hand here, and the tickle of breath on his cheek there.

Blaine angled his face to the side, looking intently into Kurt's eyes. He moved forward ever so slowly, meeting their lips together softly. It was warm. Kurt could feel the blush creeping up his neck while Blaine's hand stayed on his cheek, running his thumb over his jawline and guiding him over to the side.

The new angle was different, more intense and better access as Blaine kept running his thumb up and down Kurt's cheek and left a trail of warmth in its wake.

So this was why kissing was so popular. This was why couples spent their lunch breaks making out in quiet corners of the lunchroom, or more blatantly in the hallway, because kissing felt wonderful, soft and sweet and everything good in the world, where every sense tingled and your body rushed with hormones and adrenaline to boot.

Yes, kissing was fantastic.

Blaine pulled away, lips flushed but smiling, his eyes sparkling with the light from the window. Kurt would be happy to make him look like that every day. That, coupled with his immaculately styled hair and eyelashes a mile long, was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

Kurt almost said it, but instead angled his neck down to hide the flushed redness which would be startlingly evident on his face.

Rachel naturally chose that moment to storm out of her room followed closely by Hiram who just looked confused. "Rachel, it's the same rules for everyone. Why are you being so snappy about it?"

"Because nowthat you have inadvertently given your okay, Kurt's not going to come here to spend time with me, it will just be because he and Blaine want to shoot adoring looks at each other across the room. Do you remember the last time Blaine had a boyfriend? He was insufferable! Now not only do I have to put up with that, but I get to enjoy the insufferable reaction from both sides!"

"Rachel Berry, come here now."

Kurt melted back in the couch, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. Blaine, on the other hand, stood up to stand near his father. "One, I did not 'give my okay' on anything. It's not my job to approve who Blaine likes or who your best friend likes. Two, this has nothing to do with Blaine's last boyfriend, so that's not a plausible argument." Hiram ticked each item off on his fingers as he went through. "And three, whatever they decide is not about you. Don't you think you should give Kurt the benefit of the doubt on who he comes over to see? I know for a fact you spend time with his brother, so this tantrum is not getting you anywhere." With that, Hiram walked back through the kitchen door muttering under his breath about teenagers.

Blaine followed him into the kitchen and their voices could be heard, muffled through the open door, but Kurt didn't want to listen.

Rachel came and planted herself on the couch next to Kurt. "Sorry," was all she said. If Kurt wasn't embarrassed and appalled from all the assumptions made in the last ten minutes, he might have been angry.

Instead, he sagged further into the couch.

"Would you like to go and watch a movie?" Rachel suggested hopefully.

Kurt eyed her incredulously. "If you ever put me in that position again Rachel, you can be sure I won't be visiting as often."

Her eyes bulged, a shocked look while she mentally replayed the conversation to see what could have upset him.

"You assumed so much. Instead of talking to me, you went off at your father and caused a major argument. An awkward, uncomfortable argument in which I was the main attraction. What were you even thinking? If you're intentionally trying to make me suffer, why don't you just call my dad and tell him too?" Kurt's tone was like ice, glaring at her.

"I'm jealous."

He'd not expected that. Rachel didn't admit things very often.

"Why?" he replied.

"Because you and Blaine are… what are you?"

Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Case in point, Rachel. We don't know what we are, I don't even know if I can call us 'we' yet. But… he did ask…if I would like to go on a date." Kurt blushed again, while Rachel squealed and bounced on her knees on the couch.

All traces of trepidation were gone as she started babbling. "What are you going to wear?"

Shit. He hadn't even thought of that.

Sighing hugely at the effort, he got up and offered Rachel a hand off the couch. "Come on. Let's go and look through some magazines."

Blaine was forgotten for the moment as they rushed to Rachel's room and spent the rest of the evening planning, stopping long enough to eat the pizza Hiram had ordered.

After that, they put on a movie, lying next to each other on the bed and watching it until they fell asleep.

It was 2am when Blaine snuck out of the house. No one even noticed.


	8. Chapter 8

Kurt rolled over to a face full of Rachel's hair, coughing and pawing at the strands as he tried to get them out of his mouth. After checking the time on his phone, he turned over, trying to go back to sleep and failing miserably.

He heard a door creak in the hallway and the sound of footsteps pattering past, probably to the bathroom. It could have been one of Rachel's dad's but they had an en suite so most likely, Blaine.

A 4am bathroom trip wasn't so unusual, but coupled with the late-night trip out the weekend before… Maybe he should check.

But what if he was just getting up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night? And saw Kurt just standing there watching him? That was just creepy.

The toilet flushed. Well, it was now or never.

Kurt tiptoed to the door, nudging it open just enough to peek through at the hallway. All the lights were out but it was definitely Blaine, shuffling down the hallway in what looked to be jeans and nothing else.

The fact that it was dark in the hallway meant he couldn't see much, but that was probably a good thing considering Kurt was going to hop back into bed with Rachel and… just the thought of that was enough to dissuade any improper thoughts.

Blaine closed the door to his room behind him, promptly turning on the light. Kurt stood there a few more minutes thinking about why Blaine would still have his jeans on at 4am, unless he'd gone on another late night trip…

Two in two weeks, both on Saturday nights home, before 4am. What the hell would he be doing?

Kurt made a mental note to ask him about it in the morning as he lay back down to try and scrape a few more hours of sleep before his inevitable 7am wake up.

Five hours later, Kurt groggily dragged himself out of bed, immediately noticing that Rachel wasn't in the room and scrambling for his phone. He'd slept in! Until 9am! Holy shit! He skipped his morning routine in favour of clothes and coffee, slipping downstairs to join the family.

"Morning Kurt, you're up late," Rachel said with a wink. What? Honestly, the girl called herself his best friend and here she was sitting at the kitchen table with her dads winking and suggesting he'd slept in because… okay she was suggesting 'inappropriate behaviour' at the breakfast table, no big deal.

Hiram looked up from his paper and Kurt felt his whole face flush red. "Good morning." What do you say back to something like that anyway?

"Did you see Blaine on your way downstairs? He seems to have mysteriously caught the sleep-in bug this morning too." Kurt shot Rachel a bitch-glare across the table.

"No, I haven't seen him since we went to bed yesterday." Not quite true, but she really didn't need to know he'd been up in the middle of the night practically stalking… no it was more like 'checking up on', definitely not checking out, her brother.

"Rachel, stop. You're clearly making Kurt uncomfortable. We had a discussion about this stuff yesterday," Hiram interjected.

Great. Defended by Rachel's dad about the most uncomfortable subject in the world, what a way to start the day. Rachel giggled and went back to her breakfast.

Kurt grabbed a cup of coffee and went to sit next to Rachel at the table within pinching distance, for reasons. By the time Blaine stumbled down the stairs, they'd all had breakfast and moved into the lounge to sit around and watch the morning news. Well, Hiram and Leroy were watching the morning news. Rachel and Kurt were thumbing through magazines on the couch.

Blaine looked like crap, and that was putting it nicely. He'd clearly showered and gone through the motions of getting ready to face the day but there were dark shadows under his eyes and a distinct lack of any form of energy what-so-ever.

"Morning Blaine, you don't look well." Leroy side-eyed Hiram on the couch. Kurt rolled his eyes and Blaine looked surprised.

The conversation was heading into awkward territory and there had only been one sentence spoken. Kurt wondered just how suspicious it would look if he suggested going home at that moment. It was that or sit through more awkward speculation about why both Kurt and Blaine looked like they hadn't slept.

Rachel must have noticed his discomfort this time, and hopped up off the couch, offering him a hand "Let's go up to my room and watch a movie." The merest hint of a smile played at the side of her mouth.

Kurt got up and followed Rachel back to her room. "Okay, spill," she said before the door had even closed.

"There's nothing to spill!" he defended. "If I could give you a better explanation I would, not that you would deserve it with your behaviour at the table this morning."

"Kurt, that was just teasing! But in all seriousness; were you and Blaine up all night or something? Because you never sleep in and he looks like death warmed up." Rachel looked straight at him, as if her argument was somehow validated.

"Just because he asked me out on a date does not mean that we spent half the night fooling around after you went to sleep Rachel!" Kurt thought for a split second about telling her that Blaine had been awake late and that was probably why he was tired, but that would launch her into a whole new argument about how he knew that Blaine had been up late.

"Am I interrupting something?" Blaine, standing against the doorframe, must have heard that. "So that would explain why I just got part two of the 'how not to deflower your sisters best friend' conversation from our parents."

Time to go home.

It was definitely time to go home.

"I should be going…" Kurt stood up, with the intention of gathering his belongings.

"Wait, no! Kurt, you don't have to go. I was just kidding." Blaine sounded almost panicked.

Kurt placed the clothing around his bag back inside of it and pulled the zip. "No, it's okay. I have homework to finish anyway."

Rachel piped up from the other side of the room, "But I thought we were going to watch a movie? Your homework wasn't important before."

Yeah Rachel, that was before you insinuated I'd been up with your brother all night, and said brother heard it and had to sit through another conversation with your fathers and I'd better get this homework done now because it looks like I may be busy next weekend. He almost said it out loud but instead opted for a quick, "My homework is important and I'll see you at school tomorrow. Bye."

Blaine may have tried to catch his arm on the way out the door – there was a brief resistance as he slipped past – but he continued walking. A polite 'thank you for having me and I'll probably see you next week' to Hiram and Leroy who were still sitting in the family room and he was gone.

There was always that feeling of loss when he got home from Rachel's or Rachel left his house after a sleepover. It had been that way since Kurt was a child, getting so used to having someone around him and then feeling the pangs when they were gone. Sometimes it caused nightmares, but more often it was a nauseous feeling in the pit of his stomach that he had to try not to focus on.

The friendship between Rachel and Kurt had always been quite volatile. It was a part of the draw of it, he guessed, but it never stopped him wanting to see her or spend time with her. Blaine was just an element on top of that friendship. Finn was another. She'd never specifically mentioned that they were together but there had been at least one late-night rendezvous between them.

He'd be sure to put her on the spot about that next time, a little payback for the agonising morning spent dodging awkward conversation. But for now, he needed a shower and to get on with his homework before the weekend was over.

The late afternoon was spent finishing up a couple of essays for school. Kurt was a good student but that meant making the time to put the effort in, or get hopelessly snowed under. Finally, he settled into bed around nine and found he was not tired in the slightest.

Kurt's thoughts drifted to Blaine. Alone in the dark, he closed his eyes and got lost in it; the feeling of Blaine's hand ghosting over his jaw, of sitting next to him on the couch, the way his body responded, with or without permission to their kisses, a date – which he wasn't even sure would happen now.

Watching Blaine walk down the hallway, shadowed and dark but just wearing his jeans and ugh. There was no way he's get to sleep now, choosing instead to focus more and more on the little touches and feelings until he couldn't focus at all anymore.

School on Monday morning seemed to last an eternity. It was lunch time before Kurt had a chance to speak to Rachel. He stood near his locker and switched out the books in his bag for the ones he would need after the break.

"Sleep better last night, Kurt?" she said it with a wink and a quirky smile.

"Yes, thank you, Rachel. No thanks to you and your insinuations of your brother and my activities over the weekend. That was a really bitchy thing to bring up in front of your dads by the way. Not to mention Blaine overhearing them." Kurt ran a comb through his hair as he spoke.

"You should stop being so sensitive about it. We never got to have that conversation, did we? What did happen that night Kurt, because you never sleep in and Blaine looked like crap." Rachel made herself comfortable leaning back against the locker next to Kurt's

"How many times do I have to say that nothing happened? Seriously Rachel, just because you run off with Finn at every opportunity doesn't mean I'm going to do the same thing." He sprayed some hairspray to keep his hair in place.

She had the nerve to look hurt. "I don't go to your house just to see Finn, you know."

"Then why the hell do you think that I go to yours? To see Blaine? We've been hanging out for a while now Rachel, and this… whatever it is with Blaine, literally started two weeks ago and already you're being completely unreasonable about it!"

"There's no need for you to get snappy Kurt. I'm sorry for bringing it up in front of my dads but you have to know, there's rules for a reason. I don't want to lose you ." Kurt's eyes narrowed at her words.

"Are you fucking kidding me right now, Rachel? There are rules at my house too but you flaunt them willingly and then have a go at me for the same thing? No, I'm going now." Kurt walked off in the direction of the cafeteria. Maybe some lunch would calm him down.

His phone rang just as he got in the line. Without looking at it – who else would it be? – he picked up the earlier argument.

"Rachel, your double standard for us seeing each other's brother is disgraceful, as is your total disregard of our friendship at all. I don't even know where I stand with Blaine, or where you stand with Finn, but bitching at me in the hallway is not helping either of us. So maybe you should just drop the damn subject and pretend it never happened." The words tumbled out of his mouth followed by a deep sigh. "Rachel?"

"Kurt." Fuck. That was not Rachel.

"I got your number from Rachel, and uh- thought I would confirm our date." Blaine.

"Of course you did." Kurt head went back automatically, while he decided if he would press the end-call button or not.

"Kurt?" It was questioning. Did he launch into a full explanation or not? But before he could choose, Blaine continued. "How's Friday for you? I'll pick you up at 6?" Why was he still continuing this thing?

"Yeah, um… Friday would be great," Kurt replied.

"Cool, I'll see you then. If not before. At school. You know." That was adorable. Blaine sounded nervous.

"Bye Blaine," Kurt pressed the end call button and breathed out in a rush.

Four days. That wasn't nearly enough time.


	9. Chapter 9

As predicted, the four days passed in a flash for Kurt, probably due to nerves rather than excitement. Not that he wasn't looking forward to it, because he was. It was just a really nerve wracking experience to go on his first date with someone he never truly thought he would get a chance with.

Blaine Anderson was… well, gorgeous, and likable and funny and sweet and everything Kurt thought was wonderful in the world. He had it bad.

Worse, it meant that the nerves and anxiety were probably going to get the better of him on the night and he would make an idiot of himself in front of Blaine and that would show to Blaine that Kurt was just…Kurt.

He'd been trying to pick out an outfit for the past three days. Nothing was working and here he stood with three hours to go before the date and absolutely nothing to wear.

"Kurt?" Carole was standing at the door.

"Hi, this is a disaster. What am I doing?" Kurt said in a rush.

"Now, you know that's not going to get you anywhere. Where are your girls? I thought for sure Mercedes or Rachel would want to be here with you for this, with loud music and a lot of giggling." She smiled fondly at the idea.

"Well, Rachel said it would be weird and Mercedes is getting ready for a date of her own tonight. I'm desperate. I thought of calling Tina, but she's already out and the rest… well, they're cheerleaders and I… God, what do I do? I have three hours, nothing to wear and no friends." With a melodramatic sigh, he slumped on the bed.

Carole laughed and Kurt looked at her indignantly. "Sure, laugh at my pain."

"Oh my, aren't we theatrical this evening? Is it going to be like this every time you go on a date? Because if this is going to be a regular occurrence, I might just take the Friday shift at work from now on and let your father look after you." She was still trying to stifle her laughter while mocking his dilemma.

Kurt was thinking about having his father try and help him get ready for a date. He scoffed at the thought and went to rifle though his cupboard some more. "Not helping."

She perked up a little. "Need some help?"

Kurt looked at her inquisitively. Really? What was she going to do? "No, I'll just…put something together. I'm hard-pressed for clothes that he's not seen before. First dates are supposed to be special and romantic and new. But I'll be more organised next time." If there was a next time, he thought to himself.

"What if…?" She shook her head and walked out of the doorway to her own room. Kurt followed her curiously. Carole was in her own walk-in wardrobe now, emerging a minute later with a box. "This is," she paused and corrected herself, "this was going to be your Christmas present. But it's not even Halloween and this is a special occasion so..." She passed him the box.

In the box was a maroon blazer with a high thick collar. There were vertical zips on either side of the front, and two pockets. It was an interesting design, not something that he would choose for himself, but with some dark blue jeans and a white shirt he could definitely make it work.

"Wow. Carole…thank you so much! It's beautiful! Will dad be mad? That you gave it to me early?" Kurt was a little more excited now.

"The trick here is that your father won't be home until after you leave. And if you take it off when you get home… no one has to know." Oh, okay. So his stepmother had turned into his fairy godmother for the night. Fantastic.

Kurt gave her a massive hug and a kiss on the cheek on his way out of the room, practically skipping back to his own to finish getting dressed.

By the time five to six rolled around, Kurt had been styling his hair for an hour. Even that wasn't enough to quell the butterflies that had invaded his stomach. He'd tried sitting downstairs but staring at the door waiting for it to knock had not been a good look. Finn had made some comment about a strand being out of place and Kurt had rushed back upstairs.

Kurt heard muffled voices and walked out of his room with an air of nervous tension, feeling surprisingly confident in his final outfit choice and more than ready to get out of the house. But what he saw near the front door stopped him in his tracks.

Blaine.

Wearing black pants, blue button down shirt and a black bow tie, he looked unimaginably good looking and was even blushing slightly as he ran through pleasantries with Carole and Finn.

"Kurt! Wow." Kurt couldn't help the blush that rose in his cheeks at Blaine's words. He smiled and went to stand next to him by the door.

"Hi."

"Be home by eleven, please Kurt. And have a good night." That was it. That was all Carole said. Then they were walking down the little pathway towards Blaine's car alone.

It occurred to him that he had absolutely no idea where they were going just as he got to the passenger seat door, only to have his hand patted away when Blaine instead opened the door for Kurt to sit.

"Where are we going?" He was unsure of where to focus his eyes, because surely there was only so long he could admire Blaine via his peripheral vision before it was noticed and commented on for being creepy.

"I asked to pick you up early because we have a bit of a drive to get to our destination," Blaine said, his answer cryptic and aloof. Okay then.

The conversation faltered and Blaine pressed a button on the CD player, turning the volume down so it could be spoken over.

"Hmm," Blaine made a noise in his throat. "How do we start a conversation? I can't ask you to tell me about yourself, because we've known each other for years. I can't ask your favourite movies, because we've seen them all together at some stage or another. So I guess I'm going to have to settle for talking about how many things we already know about each other and hope that that spurs further conversation." The speech was the longest Blaine had ever spoken to him, but it worked, breaking the tension between them long enough for the conversation to flow more readily.

They spoke easily after that, about school, their parents and a brief interlude into what the hell was going on between Finn and Rachel until they mutually agreed to leave their siblings out of their date.

Blaine pulled up on the side of the road just as the sun was setting, a long, dark road in the middle of nowhere. Well, it was somewhere, but Kurt had no idea where.

"The side of a dark road?" Kurt questioned.

"The side of a dark road," Blaine confirmed back at him, unlocking the boot and pulling out a basket topped with a blue blanket.

"I think we may be a little overdressed," he stated, looking into the dark brambles next to the car.

"What's over dressed for a first date? Impossible." Blaine held out his hand for Kurt to take, balancing the basket in the other carefully.

It was perfect really. There was just enough light from setting sun to negotiate their way down an almost undistinguishable path that opened into a flat plain of green grass. Trees surrounded the secluded alcove and the cars on the road could still be heard in the distance.

Blaine found what he judged to be the perfect spot, right in the centre of the circle of trees and set out the blanket. "Better set all this stuff up before the sun goes down completely." He started taking things out of the basket, containers of fruit, sandwiches and others things which Kurt couldn't see properly through the plastic.

At the bottom of the now empty basket there was a sturdy glass votive holder, and the candles to fit inside of them. Pulling out a packet of matches, Blaine lit four of them and placed them sporadically around the food before seating himself about half a metre away next to Kurt.

Blaine passed Kurt a fork and a paper plate and they served themselves from the plastic containers. "So, what are you looking to do after high school, Kurt?" Blaine blindsided him.

He tried not to stutter over the words. "I hadn't really thought about it to be honest. I'm a junior, so…" He let the sentence taper off, wondering if bringing up the fact that he was younger was a good idea, or if that would affect Blaine's perception of him at all.

"Ahh, the stress hasn't been put on you yet," Blaine replied with a grin. "But rest assured that next year, that will be the first thing they throw at you. Maybe you should start looking around to get a head start on them."

"What about you? Got any iron clad plans for next year?" Kurt questioned.

Blaine finished his mouthful, politely swallowing and putting his plate down like he was ready for a serious conversation. "Yes. Well, sort of. I've applied for community college in Ohio. There are some amazing community theatre shows going on and I thought rather than running off into the horizon with no experience in the industry, I would try and make sure that I'm making the right choice first." He flushed a little before continuing. "So I'll still be around next year…" Blaine left the rest of it unsaid and picked up his plate again.

So Blaine wouldbe staying in Ohio next year for Kurt's senior year…if by the grace of whatever they continued this…thing… they could go to New York at the end of next year together. He wondered how much Rachel had known when she was talking about double weddings after graduation. She must have known. Sneaky bitch.

Kurt shivered with a mix of anticipation and excitement, only to have Blaine look at him funny. "Are you cold?" He took off his jacket and offered it to Kurt, like every clichéd romantic comedy they had ever watched. It felt fantastic.

Blaine was right there, bent over to the side to place the jacket around his shoulders. Kurt could feel Blaine's warm breath on his neck. It would only take a tiny movement and they would be kissing. So he turned, meeting their lips and feeling Blaine's sharp intake of breath before he settled into the movement of their mouths together.

Kurt's hand extended to Blaine's shoulder, placing it on the hard muscle there and running it up to the side of his neck. He felt Blaine jolt, like electricity had hit him and Kurt pulled away quickly, worried that he'd done something wrong.

"Is your shoulder okay? I probably shouldn't have been so forward. I'm sorry. You weren't expecting that-" Blaine cut him off, pressing his lips on Kurt's lightly to stop the stream of words.

"It's okay. Don't worry about it. What do you say we get some desert?" Blaine picked up one of the still-closed containers, revealing an obscenely large slice of French cheesecake.

Kurt was distracted from his line of questioning. "Blaine, you can't possibly think I'm going to eat all that. It's huge."

Blaine burst out laughing and Kurt wondered why.

"Oh my God." Kurt blushed, his cheeks flaming. It must have been noticeable even in the candlelight.

When Blaine stopped his obnoxious giggling and while Kurt contemplated curling up and never speaking again, he put the container down between them and passed Kurt a spoon. "I thought we would share it actually." The positioning of the cake caused them to have to shift a bit closer to reach properly. Oh. Okay. This was…this was good.

They finished the cheesecake, although Blaine ate more than Kurt, and it was only still 8.30, so they sat looking around at the dark park.

"Kurt, would it be too forward of me to ask if you would like to come back to my house and maybe watch a movie? Without Rachel?" Blaine put particular emphasis on his sister's name.

Kurt thought about it for a few moments, about what his dad would say and about what Rachel would say about being excluded. But it would just be like a normal Friday night, staying at Rachel's. Except Rachel would not be in the room with them and he would have to be home before eleven.

He swallowed nervously. "Okay."


	10. Chapter 10

The house was quiet and dark when they pulled up in Blaine's car. It was still quiet, but seemingly the family had retreated for the night.

Excellent.

"If we're really quiet going in, Rachel won't even know you're here," Blaine giggled as he said it, sparkles of moonlight shining in his eyes.

"Trying to get me alone for your nefarious plans are you?" Kurt replied with a similar smile.

"What on earth makes you think that my plans are nefarious?" Blaine bit back, sliding a key into the lock of the front door and quietly opening it.

"Oh, I don't know. The sneaking through the house, plotting to get me past your sister…" He let the sentence linger, speaking in a soft whisper.

Blaine leaned over to catch Kurt's hand. "Would it be so wrong to want to get you alone?" His warm breath ghosting along Kurt's ear caused a shiver to ricochet down his spine.

Alone.

One word, and so many meanings. First date, first date, first date, Kurt repeated over and over in his mind. Getting seduced by a gorgeous older man wasn't in his plans for his first date. Dinner was lovely, the picnic and ambience sublime.

But the retreating to the bedroom in the early evening… that was definitely nefarious.

The pair made it to the bedroom, Blaine shooting Kurt a triumphant grin. "Success." He had, naturally, spoken too soon. There was a faint light from the lamp shining under Rachel's door. They heard the floorboards emit a squeak from that direction.

Blaine had never moved so fast, opening the door and lightly shoving Kurt inside. It was dark, and there was no way he was game to turn the light on just yet. Kurt heard the conversation quite clearly from his spot just inside the door.

"Blaine? Is that you already? What did you do that earned you a 9pm home time?" Rachel inquired somewhat cattily.

Trying to be inconspicuous, Blaine reached into the inside of the doorframe to his bedroom to turn on the light. "We had a fantastic date thank you so much for asking, sister dear."

Rachel laughed. "You must have done something wrong… unless you're not alone?" she raised an eyebrow at him.

Blaine coughed.

Jesus Blaine, way to go at being inconspicuous, Kurt thought to himself.

"N- No, I'm most definitely alone," he stuttered the words out. Kurt didn't see Rachel's pursed lips, nor did he see the quick wink Blaine directed at her down the hallway, the bugged out eyes Rachel shot back, or the finger to lips gesture that Blaine responded with.

Rachel may have been a pain in the ass, but at the end of the day, that was her best friend, and whether she was worried about Blaine stealing him away into the night or not, she knew that if the situation was reversed, her brother would do the same for her.

"Okay, well. Goodnight then. Don't let the bed bugs bite." Rachel turned, closed her door and went back to whatever she was doing.

"Goodnight," Blaine's voice trickled after her.

Meanwhile, Kurt was going to have a panic attack. No one knew where he was, except him, alone, in Blaine's bedroom, with Blaine. Maybe he was over-thinking it but…there was no second chance for a first date and… Fuck, what if Blaine thought that Kurt wanted to have sex with him, and shit what if Kurt wasn't thinking that was such a bad idea and crap how the hell was the room devoid of oxygen when he needed it most?

Something in Kurt's face must have given him away because there was barely a moment between when he started breathing heavily and when Blaine had closed the door and wrapped his arms around him.

"Shh, hey… Kurt it's okay, you aren't here against your will. If you like, I can go and get Rachel and we can watch a movie all together, anything that would make you more comfortable. I pushed too far, didn't I? I am an idiot." But Blaine's soft words whispered against his neck slowly calmed Kurt down. "It's okay," Blaine repeated against his neck, dropping sporadic kisses along Kurt's jaw.

"I know, I know. I'm fine, don't worry." Kurt breathed deeply a few times, letting himself melt into Blaine's arms and enjoying the warmth there.

"I don't want you to panic, Kurt. I was completely serious about not having any 'nefarious' plans for tonight. Just a movie. Thought I might, at some point, yawn and put my arm around your shoulders." Blaine was still speaking quietly but the soothing tone resonated with Kurt.

It really was okay. The panic had set in before he'd really thought about who he was with. This was Blaine,warm, comforting and steadfast, not some moron jock who couldn't think about anything more than getting into his pants.

Wait, what if Blaine wasn't interested in him like that at all? What if he just wasn't attractive enough to have his clothes ripped off and just get dirty with?

Maybe if he could just switch his mind off and feel things would be easier. So Kurt tried. He focused on the warm feeling of Blaine's arms wrapped around his shoulders (probably getting a cramp, because of the few inched Kurt had on him), the feeling of his soft kisses pressed into the side of Kurt's neck, the fingers twined into the wisps of hair at the back of Kurt's head.

Focusing on that created an entirely new problem, and if he didn't get away soon it was going to become rapidly more noticeable.

"Um, should we…?" Kurt untangled himself and led Blaine to sit on the edge of the bed.

"Are you sure…?" Blaine sat close, not close enough for them to have no space, but just enough that Kurt could lower his hand and they could intertwine their fingers.

So he did, feeling Blaine's fingers slip between his own and revelling in the marvel that such a small gesture, 'just' holding hands, (something that would easily be scoffed at by some of his more adventurous friends) felt so good, so right.

"Do you want to watch a movie? I have quite a collection," Blaine nudged Kurt's shoulder with his own. "As you well know."

"We've seen them all." He wasn't necessarily implying that they shouldn't watch a movie, just, stating a fact.

"Well, we could put something on as background noise and talk if you like?" Blaine suggested

Kurt nodded, wiggling up the bed to the pillows and sitting against them. He watched Blaine pick a movie, put it in the player and press play, not really giving a shit what it was when his whole body was buzzing on adrenalin just being there.

Kurt had to keep reminding himself where he was, not that his hormones weren't doing a good job of that, but simply because holy-shit-he-was-in-Blaine's-room-and-really-no-one-knew-and-anything-could-happen. But then he had to stop that line of thought because if he kept it up there was no way in hell he'd be able to speak coherently.

Blaine looked at him inquisitively from the side of the bed. "Where would you like me to sit?"

"On the floor of course," Kurt deadpanned.

A strange look overtook Blaine's face and he slowly made moved to sit at the end of the bed.

"Oh my God, Blaine I was kidding," Kurt emphasised his point by patting the bed next to him. "You promised me a yawn and cuddle, if I remember correctly." Was that too much? He hadn't meant to be quite so abrupt…

Pure relief was written in the way Blaine jumped on the bed and crawled up to the pillows. He angled his elbow to jab Kurt in the ribs. "How was I supposed to know you were joking? A few minutes ago, you were worried about just being in the same room as me alone."

Kurt laughed, too loud in the quiet room. "I wasn't worried, just… I've never been in this situation before. It's a little nerve wracking." Blaine's features softened and he halted the attack on Kurt's ribs. He didn't remove his arm though, leaving it draped across his stomach and smiling up at him.

"You're adorable." Just like that, no leading up to it. Blaine just said he was adorable.

Would this be a good time to kiss him? Would kissing, while lying down on the bed be too much for a first date? The real question was though, did he care?

Kurt looked into his eyes. Blaine's arm was still laid over him and the hairs on his arms were reacting to the thought.

Bending forward and down, Kurt pressed their lips together. The angle was horribly awkward so he shimmied down the bed until he was almost lying down on his back.

Blaine, still lying on his stomach from where he'd dive-bombed earlier, took full control of the kiss, running his tongue along Kurt's lower lip. Kurt jolted in surprise, a giddy feeling making its way up his spine. Without thinking, his mouth opened and allowed Blaine entrance.

The room was hot, not 'wow, it's hot in here, we should open a window hot' but an actual sauna. Kurt didn't know if it was his subconscious reaction to the pleasant feel of Blaine's tongue in his mouth licking and tickling, or if it was the feeling of the hand making its way from his stomach, over the fabric of his t-shirt and to his neck. Or both.

Kurt shivered again, letting everything soak in. He'd shifted on the bed until his body was facing Blaine's.

Blaine pulled back from the kiss, lips pink and swollen and panting for breath. "Wow… That's… You're…" Kurt watched him stumble for words and felt his heart leap. He did that. He had made someone at a complete loss for words and look dishevelled, the curls on Blaine's head springing loose from their hold.

Smiling, Kurt snaked a hand around Blaine's waist and pulled him in a few inches closer, their knees bumping and making both of them smile.

"Is this okay?" Blaine looked at Kurt from under his lashes, quite a feat considering how close they were laying on the bed, or rather, a testament to how long Blaine's eyelashes really were up close.

Instead of answering, Kurt ran his fingers up Blaine's back until he reached the top, and nudged him forward just far enough for their lips to touch. He felt the smile from Blaine against his mouth, while they settled into a pattern.

Kurt hadn't meant for things to go quite that far, all he knew was that when Blaine's thigh had nudged between his own all he could think about was how amazing it felt. Stretching out languidly, and feeling the soft pressure up against him, he let his own hand nudge up underneath the fabric of Blaine's shirt, playing his fingers across the smooth flesh of his lower back, not quite brave enough to go further down or up.

Feeling Blaine's breath speed up and mix with his own, instinct saying more, harder, closer and acquiescing, he pressed at the small of Blaine's back, hoping for more and being rewarded with a stronger jolt of pressure right where he wanted it.

He didn't recognise the strength of the hot, tight, winding sensation in his body, the way that every sinew screamed for more, breathing in the scent of Blaine's neck and kissing into the skin there, Blaine's throat damp with sweat.

Until there were galaxies exploding behind Kurt's eyes and Blaine groaned loudly, writhing along with him as each of them came hard.


	11. Chapter 11

In the car on the way home, Kurt glanced in the rear-view mirror. He didn't look any different, but he felt it right down to his core.

There hadn't been as much awkwardness as you'd expect. Blaine had politely offered him the bathroom first. They'd cleaned up and then Kurt had been walked out to his car with a sweet kiss goodbye.

He pulled up in the driveway, turned off his headlights and wandered to the front door, quietly letting himself in.

Burt and Carole were still seated in the family room, watching some mindless crime show and they looked up as he toed his shoes off.

"Did you have a good night sweetie?" Carole asked with a smile.

"Yeah, it was great, thanks… I'm going to head to bed now. Goodnight," Kurt nodded at them and headed towards his room.

When Kurt entered his room, he did little more than shower quickly, complete his moisturising routine and flop into bed, passing out within minutes.

He woke up late again on Saturday morning, deciding to stay nestled amongst the pillows and going over the events of the night before in his mind. The picnic was perfect and the movie was even better. Kurt didn't feel any different except for maybe a little tired, but that hardly mattered.

There was a sharp knock on the door and a two-second interval before Rachel walked in. "Rachel, what the hell?"

She was dressed in jeans, a t-shirt and a black bandanna over her hair. "Oh, don't tell me you forgot! Your dad let me in, told me to kick you out of bed and get to it. They've been at it for hours!"

Kurt looked at her like she had antlers. "What are you talking about?"

"Packing! Don't tell me you've forgotten about moving house next weekend? Distracted, much?" Rachel smirked at him, pouncing on the end of his bed and sitting on her knees. "So… how did it go? Blaine was home early."

Kurt coughed, uncomfortable already and the only person he could talk to about it properly really did not need to know the details.

"Um, it was great. We had a nice dinner, went for a walk and then home. T-that was it."

Rachel looked at him with a raised brow. "Okay, I wouldn't usually let it drop, but that is my brother and ew. So get out of bed and let's get your stuff into boxes!" She was like an excitable puppy bouncing on the end of the bed, and as far as Kurt was concerned, way too energetic on a Saturday morning.

"Go away. Go pester Finn or something," he said with a growl

"You asked me for help, so here I am at 8am on a Saturday, ready to spend the day helping you pack everything you own into boxes and you're telling me to get lost? Hmph." Rachel jumped off the side of the bed and promptly pulled his covers onto the floor.

"Rachel," he hissed.

"Go and get dressed. I'm going to get some orange juice and I expect you dressed when I get back," she quipped.

"Rachel." His tone turned into more of a whine.

"Now."

Kurt rolled his eyes at her. "Okay I'm up," and finally climbed out of bed. Kurt threw on some older clothes, jeans that hadn't seen the light of day in months and a blue long sleeved shirt from the back that had probably been in there even longer.

Fixing his hair and making his way downstairs, Kurt poured himself a coffee from the pot and gave Rachel the evil eye over the rim of it. She had the nerve to wink at him.

Burt and Carole were taking a break, having been up for an hour or two already. The problem with living in a small house with four people was that between them there was a lot of crap to get packed up and during the week they just didn't get any time. Burt was always off early to open the garage while Carole headed to the hospital and Kurt and Finn were obviously at school.

"Come on, Kurt. Your clothes alone are going to take all day and it gives us a chance to talk." Rachel emphasised the word just enough for Kurt to get suspicious.

What if she knew? What if Rachel had heard them last night… fooling around? Oh my God. He'd fooled around with a boy, with Blaine,and if she knew… what would she even do?

They made their way back to his bedroom laden with empty boxes. "You do realise I will have to plan my outfits for the entire week just so we don't pack anything important, don't you?" Kurt announced, putting the boxes on the bed.

"I figured as much. Do you have clothing bags for all of these?" Rachel said, hesitantly opening the doors to Kurt's closet.

"What do you take me for?" He rolled his eyes at her bewildered look. "The tub in the bottom corner. Most of them are hung in their bags anyway."

Rachel rustled and fumbled her way to the back of the closet. "Dear God, Kurt, why do you still have this?"

He looked over from his position on the bed taping together the first box. "Oh. That."

"Yes. That." She held the red and white material up against herself, laughing and throwing it at Kurt.

His Cheerios uniform.

That was going back a bit. That week had been excruciating, prancing around feeling like he had switched to an alternate universe because suddenly no one was giving him grief: no slushies, no locker slamming, nothing. For the entire week, it had given him a taste of what 'normal' high school students went through.

But everything had gone back to normal the next week, and the uniform had been thrown unceremoniously to the back of his closet. Kurt still didn't know what possessed him to keep it, but Coach Sylvester had never asked for it back either. Like maybe she'd hoped he would re-join them at some stage.

But no. It just wasn't the kind of thing he could just let go of either, not that it would even fit him now. Standing six inches taller and knowing what was involved in the intense exercising regime (strictly in the privacy of his own room, mind) had made sure that he was never enthused to rejoin the squad.

"Are you going to look at that all day, or are you going to help me pack your stuff?" Rachel huffed, pointedly looking down her nose at him.

"You know what, Rachel, how about we leave the clothes? I'll do them during the week sometime and you just focus on the bookshelf?" Kurt frowned. Even with her exaggerated sigh while closing the door and moving to the bookshelf, he knew there was no way he'd get it all done without her.

They chatted about various topics – the weather, Mercedes's new boyfriend, the decorating scheme Kurt was working on for his new room. He had to applaud Rachel because she'd gone hours before mentioning Blaine.

"So, your date…?" He couldn't help the smile. Rachel couldn't pull off nonchalance if she tried.

"It went well. We've been over this." Kurt wiggled uncomfortably in his chair.

"Yes, but just because it's Blaine doesn't mean I don't want to talk specifics. Your first date, Kurt! Come on! Spill!"

He raised both eyebrows at her. "Really? So what if I told you that your brother and I had sex in the park?" Kurt questioned.

"KURT! That is not funny." Rachel mimicked vomiting behind her hand.

"So you want to know all the gory details, but think it's gross and want to judge me? Some best friend you are…" he chided.

"Well, what if I told you I was sleeping with Finn…" Rachel shot back at him.

Oh, okay, yeah, no. That was not any kind of visual Kurt ever wanted, thank you very much.

"Can we just say that it was a nice night and I had a really good time? But I'm sort of nervous about how he's going to react at school?" Kurt was babbling now. "Because, you know, it was fun and nice and what if he doesn't even acknowledge me at school? Or if everyone starts hating on him because he does and…" He threw himself at the mercy of the box-covered bed. "Why does everything have to be so hard?"

Rachel snorted, and Kurt shot her a look from his spot on the bed. "Kurt, this is Blaine. He's not the type just to mess around with your feelings, and if he does, I have several years of bribe-worthy material I can tell our dads."

Little moments, times like these, Kurt remembered why he was best friends with Rachel. She may have been embarrassing and dressed like a sixty-year-old woman but she just…understood.

She looked at the clock on the wall. "I should probably be going home. It's Saturday night. Do you want to come and sleepover?"

Kurt thought about it. Being over at Rachel's again, in that house, near Blaine, near Blaine's room. What if he expected Kurt to do that again, or more? Or what if he wasn't looking for a relationship and had just used him? Or worse, if they were caught?

No, it would be safer to stay home, away from him for a little while at least. Until he got the hang of whatever it was that they were doing. "Maybe you could stay here instead?" he suggested hopefully.

"Why?" Rachel saw straight through it, of course.

Kurt sighed again. This was becoming a habit, explaining his every move to Rachel. "Because I don't want to be too available, or come across as desperate by being around all the time or just anything. Just not tonight, okay?"

It looked like she was going to protest. "Well, I have to go home. My dads asked me to be home for dinner . Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I- I need to catch up on some homework anyway. We'll be moving next weekend so I'd better get it done while I can," Kurt shrugged

Rachel nodded and left, probably to track down Finn and say goodbye. Kurt's phone beeped and he pulled it out of his pocket, smiling when he saw it was from Blaine..

[Hi, Would you like to come to Rachel and my Halloween party next Saturday night?]

[Rachel's here. Why didn't she just ask me?]

[Because Rachel's not allowed to ask you, I am.]

[We're moving house next weekend. So I probably should stay home]

[But it's a Halloween party, at night. Will you be moving at night?]

[Well no.]

[Great, it's a date.]

Oh really? Kurt felt a smile tugging at his lips as he leaned back into his pillows.

[What should I wear?]

[You have a week to work it out!]

Rachel walked back into his room and Kurt looked at her accusingly. "You're having a party next weekend and you didn't tell me about?"

She put her hands in the air defensively. "Only because Blaine wanted to ask you himself!"

"So is this how it's going to be? Keeping secrets from me just because he's your brother?" Kurt's tone was mocking.

"Oh you know it's not like that. He just wanted to ask you as like, a date. Instead of you coming because you're my friend. Don't take it so personally," Rachel rushed out.

"I was joking," Kurt responded.

Her face took on a weird expression, like she didn't quite get it. "Um, right. I have to go home, but I'll see you at school on Monday, okay?" She kissed his cheek and left.

Kurt decided to try focusing on his homework, but got quickly distracted, wasting time on Facebook and creating a new playlist on ITunes. Just before dinner he plugged his iPhone in to charge and noticed a missed text.

[Not coming over tonight? :( ]

It had been sent an hour before. Oops. He tapped out a quick reply.

[No sorry, have homework to get started on before the chaos of next weekend.]

The response was almost immediate.

[So long as your priorities are right :D]

The guy was going to give him a complex, honestly. Kurt left his phone on the charger and headed downstairs to have dinner with his family.

Kurt spent the whole of Sunday being productive and getting a lot of his wardrobe stored neatly into boxes, and then treated himself to a long bath and an early night.


	12. Chapter 12

Monday passed in a series of blurred moments, each probably significant on their own but not enough to really make an impact. Finding an outfit to wear to the party had taken less than ten seconds, but packing up the house with the help of Burt, Carole and Finn was proving difficult.

Burt was supposed to avoid putting excess strain on his heart and Carole had picked up extra shifts at the hospital to help pay for the new house. Finn seemed to always be busy with afternoon football practice. Between packing, finding time to finish his homework, and cook something resembling dinner, there didn't seem to be enough hours in the day.

By Wednesday, Kurt was wrecked. After two late nights in a row and stumbling to Glee club for the final period of the day, he fell into his chair beside Mercedes' and let his bag slide to the floor with a muffled thump.

She gave him a little smile. "Hey sweetie. It's been a while. How are you?"

Kurt looked at her, feeling his eyes flutter closed with immense relief at finally getting a chance to relax. He he'd been sitting all day, but at least in Glee he knew that he didn't really have to pay attention to pass it.

"It's been a pretty full on week. We're moving this weekend and there's the party at Rachel's on Saturday and I feel like I might fake sickness at any moment just to have enough energy to go home." Kurt yawned halfway through the sentence, which was abruptly interupted when Mercedes grabbed at his collar. "Hey, what?" He tried to pull back automatically reaction but she held tight to the material.

"Kurt Hummel, would you care to explain the hickey on your collarbone?" Wait, what? Kurt's hand flew to the spot on his collarbone, running his fingers over it until he'd found the patch of skin that was slightly more sensitive. It had been five days. There was no way, even if there was a visible mark still, that no one had noticed it in that time.

He sat with his family for dinner every night, and God, Rachel had come over the day after. Kurt pulled out his compact mirror from the side pocket of his bag. There, right there, a very faded yellow spot on his skin.

For it to still be noticeable, the patch would have been a dark bruise on Sunday. Kurt thought back but no one had looked at him funny or anything. No one had asked anything then and no one had been nice enough to tell him since.

Wow. He must have been really tired.

"Are you going to look at me funny all day or are you going to explain the hickey?" Mercedes' tone was light and teasing, a smile playing at the edge of her mouth.

"Would you believe me if I said it wasn't a hickey? I walked into a ledge?" Kurt squeaked.

Mercedes laughed. "I might have believed you if you hadn't started that sentence with 'would you believe me if'."

He ran a hand over his collar, trying to cover the spot over again and wondering if anyone around him even paid enough attention to notice. It caused an annoyed purse of lips. Why the hell had nobody else noticed? He mused over it for a few more seconds, anger quickly abating when he thought about his wardrobe over the last few days. There really wasn't a single thing he'd worn that would show off that particular expanse of neck.

Puck chose that moment to walk in and Mercedes wasn't giving up on the subject. "Well?" she prompted.

"Well what, Mercedes? Hey, Kurt." Puck chose the seat furthest away, picking up the drumsticks from the floor near the kit and playing them on his knees to an unknown beat.

"Our boy Kurt's got a hickey," Mercedes announced with an edge of pride in her tone.

Puck flicked his wrist particularly hard and one of the drumsticks across the room, sliding to the floor at Santana's feet as she walked in. "Close call, Puckerman," she sneered, taking a seat in the middle of the room.

"Kurt's getting some," Puck replied.

Wait, how did a private conversation about a hickey turn into a conversation around Kurt's sex life? God, he was doomed. Anyone else, literally anyone, and they would have let the subject drop.

"Finally. Your undersexed nature was bringing the whole team down. Who's the lucky guy?" Santana leant over in her seat to look at him impassively.

No, shit, this was not good. What the hell was he supposed to say? He couldn't confirm or deny anything with Blaine because they hadn't even talked about an actual relationship, not to mention he might not want anyone to know and Christ, Kurt hadn't even seen him this week. Probably because he was avoiding the routes he knew Blaine took because it was awkward and…shit.

"I'm not getting some as you so eloquently stated Puck. Just because you two can't converse about anything that doesn't relate to sex in some variety doesn't mean I have to lower myself to your level of intelligence," Kurt rattled off seamlessly, hoping they hadn't seen his moment of hesitation.

"Wow. Kurt's got his bitch face on. Not keen to share with the class? Well, that's okay. I'm sure we could guess and if that doesn't work, I'm sure the rumour mill will take care of it." Santana didn't miss a beat.

Puck was idly flicking the drumstick he had left, not having bothered to pick up the second one from where it landed across the room. "There's only one person it could be, really. Anderson," Puck added as an afterthought.

Santana shot around in her chair to face him. "Really? You think Anderson would have at our boy here? The guy's gayer than a rainbow, I'll give him that much, but Kurt's all innocent and sweet. Do you think it was a bet?"

Kurt was caught somewhere between shock, awe and mortification. One guess. That's all it had taken and his face probably confirmed it, not that either of them were looking at him. How the hell would he explain this to Blaine?

"Still, if Hummel and Anderson are getting bedroom-happy, that doesn't explain why Berry's been so quiet about it. Usually news like this would be all over the school in ten seconds flat," Santana mused over the words, still facing Puck, while he looked at her in awe. "Unless Berry's got her own agenda in all of this. Hummel's fucking her brother and…she's fucking Finn! Huh. Looking at it that way, it would be a perfect happy family if it wasn't for the pseudo-almost-incest."

"Oh my God, Santana, shut up!" Kurt had finally had enough. The theories were bad enough but listening to the speculation like he wasn't even in the same fucking room was absurd. "You don't know what you're talking about, and you most certainly don't know who gave me this cursed hickey so take your stupid insinuations and shove them." He walked out of the room, almost bumping into Mr Schue and Rachel on their way in the door.

"Kurt…?" Rachel started but Kurt sidestepped around them, muttering something about going to the nurse.

This was it. It would be all over the school in ten minutes. Kurt reached into his bag and pulled his phone out, texting a quick 'sorry' to Blaine and turning it off. This would probably ruin him, every friend he had. It didn't matter that Blaine was out and proud and seemed to be fucking impervious to negative reaction, like no one could fault the charming, bow-tie wearing friend-to-everyone, because Kurt copped it all: the lockers, the slushies, the taunting, and tearing down so often that honestly, even if the rumours went around like wildfire and they were based in fact, he fully expected Blaine to deny everything, and he couldn't even really blame him.

He headed to his car. There was only Glee club left for the day and there was no way Kurt was stepping back into that lion's den of speculation. He pulled out of the lot and drove the familiar streets to the Hudson-Hummel residence, unable to stop the overwhelming feeling of nausea pooling in his stomach.

Why couldn't anything just go right for him? Just one break where he could be happy and have a relationship like the rest of his damn friends and not be judged for every movement or have the other person judged for liking him.

God, did Blaine even like him? By the time Kurt got home, he had worked himself up to an almost dizzying state of panic. He locked his bedroom door and headed straight for the bathroom, dropping his clothes to the floor and letting hot water from the shower drift over him. It helped a bit, the soothing sound of water hitting the tiles and the steam filling up the room around him.

He stepped out twenty minutes later, his breathing back to normal and picked up a towel from the basin to wrap around himself. Kurt heard a muffled thumping sound and figured Finn must be home, followed by a loud and hurried knock on his door. Confused, he opened the bathroom door, his eyes widening at Blaine standing on the other side.

"Crap, Kurt. Are you okay? What was with the message? Did somebody hurt you? What the hell is going on?" Blaine's words ran into each other as he lurched forward and wrapped his arms around Kurt.

"Um, Blaine… How did you get into my house?" Trying to keep the surprise out of his voice, Kurt sank a little into the hug because for all he knew, it could be the last one.

"Finn let me in. He's upstairs with Rachel. Actually…" He pulled away from Kurt, popping his head out the door. "He's okay guys, we're just going to… We need to talk and preferably privately so just, keep watch for us?" Blaine yelled in the general direction of the kitchen.

"Blaine, we're not here so you two can make out in the bedroom!" Rachel sniped back.

Finn interrupted what could have flared into all-out war with a surprisingly level headed, "Shh Rachel, they need to talk whatever is going on with Kurt. You're his best friend and I'm his brother. We can deal."

Blaine heard from his position at the door and smiled. Finn was alright. He may just have to wring his sister's neck at some point over the next few days.

Bouncing back down the stairs and promptly wrapping his arms back to their former position around Kurt's waist, Blaine continued right where he'd left off.

"Okay, so explain. All I got was a text from Rachel saying you had left school and one from you apologising for God knows what. Then I got a second message from Rachel saying something about you being tortured in Glee and probably wouldn't be back." He shuffled back a little, so he could look at Kurt properly. "I was worried, you know. It's not every day I get a text apologising and then can't even call to find out why."

Kurt was surprised. Had no body told Blaine what happened? Surely there had been enough time in the car to fill him in on more than the generalisation of Kurt storming out of Glee club?

He let out a long breath. "Mercedes and I were talking and she pointed out a rather suspicious hickey looking mark on my collarbone. Puck and Santana overheard and basicallywithin three minutes had conceived the ridiculous that you and I were… involved." The words sounded hollow to Kurt, but he pressed on. "Then they concluded that Rachel and Finn were also involved and I panicked. It's not like we've had a chance to talk about what, um, we want, but the speculation pissed me off. Santana's got a loud, gossipy mouth so I panicked about theirs ideas getting back to you." Kurt took a long breath, trying to quell the anxious beating of his heart and gauge Blaine's reaction to the words. "Jesus, I just don't want to be the one to ruin your reputation and what are we even doing?" Back to full-scale panic mode.

"Calm down." Blaine led Kurt (still in his towel, not that Blaine appeared to have noticed) to sit on the bed. "Let's clear something up first. I asked you out because I like you Kurt and I thought that yes, I would like to get to know you better and hopefully progress to knowing you a lot better."

The emphasis on the words caught Kurt off guard. Maybe he wasn't completely delusional about wanting more than friendship with Blaine.

Blaine continued. "I already considered us dating and I don't care about speculation or people knowing. Why the hell would you worry about that? Do I come across as the kind of guy who would like a secret relationship? I'm out. Who I date is my business and I want that person to be you."

They sat next to each other as Blaine lifted his hand to run his fingers against Kurt's palm.

He was speaking softer now, in voice soothing. "You're amazing, Kurt. Please don't think that you're less than anybody else. What you want matters too."

Kurt's heart was pounding. Was Blaine saying that he wanted to be in a relationship or was he saying he was open to the possibility or what? He tried calming down, but that didn't look like it was going to happen any time soon.

"I like you, a lot," Blaine was still talking. "It really doesn't matter to me what people think about it because they don't have the right to an opinion. This is between us." Blaine linked their fingers together between them on the bed. "You've got to give me something here, Kurt. I don't even know if you're listening."

Kurt startled when he realised that yeah, he hadn't said anything back and mentally cursed himself. "I… I like you too Blaine. I was just worried that after the other night, maybe you just wanted someone you could be like that with, rather than um, me."

"Wow, that hurts," Blaine mumbled quietly, "If you thought that, why did you agree to a second date? I mean, if I was in it for the more physical aspect, then why would you? Is it because it's at Rachel's and you thought you wouldn't be invited if you said no?"

This was getting out of hand. Kurt really couldn't think of a way out of this situation and the conversation had taken a nosedive with Blaine thinking that Kurt believed Blaine was only in it for sex and holy hell.

"I don't know what I thought, okay? There's just a hell of a lot going on and I'm new to this. Why are you interested in me anyway? I get picked on all the time for being gay and you're popular and older. Is it a dare? That's what Santana suggested, that you were being paid for it, or is it simply because there are limited options and you need to jump the only gay kid around?"

Blaine got up from the bed, looking furious and hurt. "So you think I wouldn't be interested unless it was a dare or I couldn't find someone else?" Blaine snapped.

Kurt nodded slightly, not having the courage to meet his eyes and instead gazing at the carpet on the floor.

"You're insane." That caused a reaction. Kurt had been waiting for the other shoe to drop for this entire conversation or whatever it was. Blaine knelt on the floor in front of Kurt. "You're the single most interesting kid in all of Ohio, Kurt. I asked you out because I like you, and all I want to hear is that you like me back. If you don't, I'll get out of your hair and make myself scarce." Blaine waited, chewing his lip anxiously as he lifted a finger up to brush some of the wet hair from Kurt's forehead.

"I like you too, Blaine." Kurt whispered, not sure the words would come out properly if he tried to say them louder.

Blaine smiled and let his hand drop to cradle Kurt's cheek. "Then I'd say, you have yourself a date on Saturday night."

Giddy with the weight lifted off his shoulders, Kurt was just about to lean forward and place a kiss on Blaine's smiling mouth, but pulled away with a deep blush, because leaning forward and being dressed in a towel was not the smartest idea. Blaine looked at him questioningly.

"I'm going to get dressed now. "

Smiling, Blaine let himself out of Kurt's bedroom and closed the door behind him. Kurt had to hold back the imminent want to kicky feet on the bed, at least until he was dressed.

If the second date was anything as good at the first, Saturday night was going to be awesome.


	13. Chapter 13

Thursday had to be the most uneventful day of the week. The absolute highlight of Kurt's day was walking past Blaine in the hallway and getting a smile and a wink...

…Only to be blocked seconds later by the pouting face of Rachel, standing next to his locker and letting out the most melodramatic sigh he'd ever heard.

Rachel looked at him pleadingly. "Please come over to my house to get ready before the party?"

"I'm getting ready with Mercedes," Kurt repeated the same answer he'd been giving her all day.

Next she resorted to puppy eyes, but he got distracted by her horrendous pink headband. "But who's going to help me set up? I came over all day on Saturday just to help you pack!"

"And I appreciate that, but Rachel, you didn't invite me." Kurt was trying to get her see his point of view. This was date number two and looking how date number one ended up, preparation time was going to be imperative.

"What's that got to do with anything?" she said, rolling her eyes.

Immediately defensive, he glared at her. "This isn't me coming over as your best friend to slave over the decorations with you. This is me going to a party with my boyfriend," he hissed.

Her mouth dropped open like a goldfish.

"Besides, I don't want to show him my costume until the party has started," he added.

"Why? What are you wearing?" Rachel looked intrigued now. Usually Kurt would be the first person up for discussing his choice in attire for a party.

He let his back slump on the now closed locker and grinned at her. "Not telling. You have got other people who will help, like most of Glee club."

Kurt could've sworn she stamped her foot. "But they're not you. Who else knows how to fix all the inevitable decorating dramas?"

He rolled his eyes. "You do. Stop pretending you're helpless. In fact, why don't we do the set up after school tomorrow night? Then you can come over and get ready with Cedes and I!"

"You're a genius," Rachel squealed and clapped her hands.

Kurt winked. "You knew that already."

"Smart ass." With an air kiss and the click-clack of her pumps on the linoleum, Rachel disappeared around the corner.

By Friday, the day dragged unimaginably slowly, every tick of the clock reverberating around the room. The teacher was droning something about the life cycle of the flea, and Kurt found himself letting his thoughts wander over the weekend plans.

Convincing his dad to let him go to Rachel and Blaine's for a party on Saturday night had been surprisingly easy, although he was pretty sure that Carole had something to do with it since both Finn andKurt were going.

Staying overnight afterwards had been a bit more of a push and going over on Friday afternoon to set up had been the hardest, which had only been allowed because Kurt had done more packing in the past week than the rest of the household combined.

So when the final bell rang, Kurt rushed out of his class while typing out a text to Rachel that he would meet her in two minutes.

They got to the car at precisely the same time and drove straight to Rachel's. "Blaine's not home this afternoon," she blurted out rather unexpectedly.

"That's okay. It's not like that's going to stop me helping you set up Rachel. He's more than likely be a distraction that we don't need anyway… while he tries to help." Kurt watched her face for a few seconds to gauge her reaction.

"So that's not why you're helping?"

Exasperated at having to repeat himself again, Kurt rolled his eyes. "Nope. Now, what have you bought, decoration-wise?" That was enough to keep them chatting amiably the whole way to Rachel's and while got started.

It took a few hours to get the decorations set up. Hiram got home from work first, looking around at the additions to the downstairs area.

"You guys will be spending all day Sunday cleaning this up, you know that, don't you?" he stated.

There were tables pushed up to the walls and pumpkin fairy lights strung up along the partition, giving the room a dark, eerie glow. They had laid out candles in holders on the food tables to be lit tomorrow. Kurt figured they would probably be blown out before the group got too rowdy, otherwise there would be a risk of someone being drunk and seeing themselves on fire.

Rachel looked up from behind her sheet of orange crêpe paper. "Blaine and I will be doing most of the clean-up. Kurt and Finn are moving house on Sunday."

Kurt didn't bother correcting her. The big furniture was being moved on Saturday morning and the smaller boxes and delicate goods (like his prized clothes) were being moved Sunday when the boys got home.

Mercedes wasn't due until four. Rachel had, after much deliberation, decided that as hostess she must get ready at her house, mostly because she wasn't comfortable with letting Blaine take care of the pre-party organisation 'for the sake of the food surviving until the other guests arrived'.

"Well, you kids have done a great job down here. Leroy and I will be going out to dinner and a movie, but we will be backbefore midnight. I don't mind how long you guys stay up but I'm not having a bunch of minors alone all night. That's a recipe for disaster," Hiram said with a raised eyebrow.

"Just what are you implying?" Rachel scoffed at him.

Hiram laughed. "That your papa and I were eighteen once too."

Rachel let out a groan, looking up to the roof. "Let's just not go into the- Hi Blaine! What do you think?"

Blaine appeared behind his dad. "Impressive. You guys have done a great job down here. Need any help?" He flashed a smile at Kurt who was standing on a stepladder hanging dubious amounts of fake cobwebs down the side wall.

Kurt smiled back. "We're all done actually. I probably h-had better head home for dinner."

He watched for a few seconds as Blaine's face fell slightly before regaining composure. "Oh. No worries then… I'll see you tomorrow night?"

That hopeful look was almost enough to melt Kurt's knees while he picked up his bag and got ready to leave. He nodded shyly and Blaine's face split into a grin. "I'll walk you out!"

He hadn't been intending to leave right that momentbut there was something wrong in the pit of Kurt's stomach, twisting and gripping and forcing out a sigh just to release the pressure. Was it always going to be like that? Knowing that Blaine liked him was great, but what exactly did that mean? He'd said something about being 'open to the idea of a relationship' but…that could mean anything.

Or Blaine could just have said that in hopes of Kurt being just as enthusiastic on Saturday as he had been on their first date and why the hell couldn't he read minds?

"Are you okay Kurt?" There was trepidation in Blaine's voice as he reached out to grab Kurt's hand, sending little shocks of buzzing electricity up his arm.

"Y-yeah. I'm fine." He was aiming for reassuring and being that vague was not going to help. "It's just Friday night dinner. I missed last weeks. Well, I've missed a few weeks by being here instead and since we're moving, dad wanted me home for this one."

It must have worked because Blaine's face softened into a small smile. "Of course."

He pulled Kurt closer, Kurt's back settling up against the driver's side door. Kurt was glad his Navigator was parked next to the fence and they were out of view of the window, because Blaine was leaning in close, a warm breath of air ghosting over his neck. "What are you wearing?"

Kurt was confused and couldn't tell if Blaine was serious or just messing around. He tried to wiggle his head back to see his expression, forgetting that he was standing against the car and wincing when the back of his head collided with the window.

Cue awkward moment of Blaine looking perplexed and Kurt wanting to sink into a crack in the driveway. "Are you okay?" he asked. Kurt rubbed the back of his head lightly. It wasn't too bad, but the wound to his pride may have been life threatening.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. I do have to go through. Don't want to be late." Sliding free from being sandwiched between Blaine and the car, Kurt unlocked the car and opened the door.

Blaine's face was unfathomable before he placed a soft kiss on Kurt's cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow night. I can't wait to see your costume."

Oh fuck, he'd meant the costume. He'd made a complete idiot of himself assuming… Of course he meant the damn costume. What else would he have meant and… just, oh crap.

Kurt drove home in a daze, mentally kicking himself the whole way home and trying to will away the flush on his cheeks before he sat down to dinner with his family.

Saturday morning went in a blur of activity. Kurt was constantly warring with his father to stop trying to help the movers and reminding him to sit down and rest. That was why they'd hired the damn movers in the first place!

Carole went to the new house with the first load of furniture so she could issue general instructions over what items went in which rooms. Finn was everywhere, helping the movers, getting drinks for everyone, taking trips between the properties to make sure everything was going where it was needed.

Kurt had to admit he was impressed, because usually Finn would be in bed until at least midday on a Saturday.

Finally, the last truckload left around three and Kurt wearily dragged himself to a hot bath, wanting to spend the absolute maximum amount of time in the water before Mercedes arrived.

She was on time, knocking on the door less than four minutes after Kurt had slipped into his costume and he opened the door grinning from ear to ear. Mercedes' hair was up in hot rollers, tightly covered by a black scarf, her costume slung over her arm in a clothes bag.

They'd both agreed to keep their costumes a secret from each other until that moment for this reason exactly. Kurt stood a little nervously, waiting for her reaction.

"Damn boy, you look fine! Anderson's not going to know what hit him!" Perfect.

Kurt's room was devoid of everything they usually used while hanging out. His bed was already in his new room, along with his dressing table, desk and basically every other available surface. But Mercedes wasn't perturbed, hanging the garment bag on the door and unzipping it to reveal…a corset? He blinked as the realisation washed over him, remembering the remnants of her costume from Rocky Horror, where she'd added a full-length red satin skirt.

"Why the skirt?" he questioned, running his fingers along the soft fabric and revelling in it.

"A vampire!" she squealed excitedly. Well, recycling the outfit was a stroke of genius, even if the idea itself wasn't particularly original. "Not just any kind of vampire though, I need to sparkle."

Kurt let out an involuntary laugh. He wasn't sure a Twilight vampire sparkling in the candlelight would have quite the same effect she was hoping for.

Pulling his robe on over his costume, he set to work on Mercedes' hair and makeup, occasionally stopping to switch the music echoing around his empty bedroom. When she was appropriately dolled up, he moved her to the bathroom and laid a towel on the floor, adding as much glitter as he could stand and laughing at the spluttering expression on her face when she inhaled the tiny particles.

At last, two hours after Mercedes arrived, they were getting in the car, mindful of their outfits and hoping they wouldn't wrinkle. There had been a brief interlude at the door from Carole getting home when they had walked down the stairs and squealing about photographic evidence of Kurt, Mercedes and Finn, who looked like a pretty boring Chuck Norris with his Stetson and gun holster, but beyond a few snaps, they were finally done and on their way.


	14. Chapter 14

When the group arrived, the Anderson/Berry residence was pitch black which was kind of a given on Halloween. Mercedes, Kurt and Finn made their way to the front porch and Kurt raised his hand to knock, but the door opened on its own, ominous and spooky.

Walking inside, they saw Leroy standing behind is, pushing a finger up to his lips and shooing them downstairs. There was some sort of horror soundtrack playing through the house, generic chain rattling and nails screeching. Mercedes giggled, checking her makeup one last time in the mirror on the wall.

"BOO!" Puck jumped out from the shadows behind them, making all three jump then dissolve into laughter at their foolishness. He was dressed as a fireman, yellow pants held up with suspenders and no shirt. The effect was quite striking. Someone had put a lot of effort into streaking his back with what looked like dirt and he had a rather leering smile.

Puck and Finn wandered off in the direction of the kitchen, chatting about their costumes and what Finn could expect downstairs. Kurt and Mercedes descended the stairs with great anticipation. The first thing that struck Kurt was the softness of the music, unusual considering the type of parties this group usually had, which tended to be loud and silly.

Tina and Mike stood by the food table dressed as a damsel and pirate respectively. Santana had the world's shortest nurse outfit, complete with white slip hat and white knee-high boots. He couldn't see Brittany anywhere yet but Artie was pulled up next to the makeshift bar in a black suit and a white phantom mask.

Rachel had gone all out this year, but instead of her usual party attire which seemed to come straight out of the early 1930s she was head-to-toe in black spandex. Oh God. He remembered that outfit from the disastrous makeover and the subsequent drama it caused.

But he wasn't looking for Rachel right now. Kurt was scanning the room for one person in particular. He walked in a little further, enough to see all of the room from his vantage point. There leaning up against the wall, was Blaine.

His body reacted before Kurt's brain could even process what he was seeing, starting from his black boots, one firmly planted on the floor, one on the wall behind him. Then black leather pants, and there was no way in hell those were legal because they were so skin-tight they had to be cutting off circulation. Silver chains fell from belt loops on those disgraceful pants, provided a startling contrast. A plain white tee, half covered by a fitted leather jacket, practically stuck to his skin. Blaine had that smirk. That one that made Kurt willing to do something, anything.

He didn't have to do anything in the end, because Blaine pushed off of the wall and came to stand in front of him, not saying anything but just raking his eyes up and down Kurt's body.

He hadn't necessarily planned to get that sort of reaction, but Kurt knew full well what this particular outfit did for him. He'd thought about it very carefully after pulling it out of the box when Rachel left, trying it on and seeing if he could get away with it in the unforgiving full-length mirror.

The red pants sat just a little bit lower than they used to, simply to cover up his ankles in the white sneakers, and the shirt was at least a size too small for him now, but his old Cheerios uniform was perfect.

"Hi." Blaine's voice was low, almost growly.

"Hi yourself," Kurt replied back at him, biting his lip.

"You look…" Blaine's sentence trailed off while his eyes followed the lines of Kurt's costume. "Delicious."

Kurt almost choked on air when he heard that. He was expecting a few things, nice he would have melted at, beautiful…but delicious. That made his heart beat unsteadily. He watched as Blaine's tongue darted out, wetting his lips and making them shine with the reflection from the candles on the table beside them.

"Um, you look great too. Is that real leather?" When in doubt, ask a clothes question. It had worked flawlessly in the past and he was hoping it was going to work now.

"What? Oh! No, it's faux, but I think it does the job quite nicely," Blaine smiled and did a little spin on the spot, giving Kurt a 180 degree view.

Blaine's butt was usually pretty fantastic, the type that you just want to put your hands on and squeeze due to its round, soft looking nature. Kurt had been tempted more than once to write a song about it.

Nothing could have prepared him for the sight of that ass in tight leather pants.

Nothing.

Now he understood the 'delicious' comment from earlier, because Kurt had never in his life imagined biting into a leather-coated butt. Unfortunately, the mental images from that thought alone had him in a rather uncomfortable state and it was only ten minutes into the party.

"Excuse me, um… bathroom." Without giving Blaine a chance to respon, Kurt hastily departed up the stairs and to the hallway bathroom, because it was the closest place he could lock himself away to sort out his breathing and heart rate.

Taking in two large gulps of air, he tried not to hyperventilate when someone knocked on the door. "Busy," he muttered. There were those times you were uncomfortably caught when you were actually using the bathroom, but was worse.

"Kurt, it's me," Blaine's voice sounded from outside the door. Without thinking, Kurt opened it and gestured inside. But oh God, why had he done that? If he had been in the bathroom to actually relieve himself and then Blaine following really shouldn't have made a difference and there was no-fucking-way he should have opened that door.

Except that Blaine kicked the door closed behind him and snapped the lock into place, giving a full three-second stare at Kurt to ask if it was okay with his eyes. Kurt gave the slightest nod before finding himself pressed up against the bathroom wall.

Blaine's mouth tasted like cola with an underlying hint of something stronger, almost bitter. He must have been drinking something a little heavier than the intended wine coolers and sparkling champagne on the table downstairs. Not that it mattered.

Everything felt hot: Kurt's cheeks, his chest and every single point of contact between their bodies. Blaine's pants were just as unforgiving as his and he could feel the effect this was having on both of them. But there was something intoxicating about just giving in, letting the wash of sensation make all his other thoughts scarper as he sank into Blaine's arms, Blaine's touch, Blaine's everything and just enjoyed.

Blaine groaned, pulling back a few inches to look at Kurt with wide, lust blown eyes. This kept happening: a few seconds alone together and the sparks of want and need were ignited so fast it made his head spin.

Rather than dwelling on the fact that they were in a bathroom, even with a perfectly good bedroom across the hall or that there was a party just getting started downstairs or even the fact that there was a possibility that Hiram and Leroy hadn't left the house yet, he put a hand on either side of Blaine's hips and pulled him closer, admiring the feeling of being in control, of choosing to widen his stance just enough for Blaine's leg to fit snuggly between his thighs.

He felt the warm heady want thrum through his body as Blaine worked his mouth across Kurt's collarbone and let the desire overwhelm him. Feeling braver, he rubbed little patterns into Blaine's hips, feeling the material give under the pressure and the bare centimetre of skin burning above the leather.

"God, Kurt." They were shamelessly rutting against each other until Kurt pushed back against Blaine's hips, just far enough to disengage their mouths and pant for breath.

"What? Are you okay? Was it too much?" The questions panted out between the mouthfuls of air Blaine was sucking in.

"Our pants." Kurt flushed crimson at mentioning it, but really, coming in his pants at the beginning of the night could lead to half a dozen awkward conversations, each worse than the other.

"Fuck, I didn't even think about that…" Blaine shifted back and collapsed against the wall. "Maybe that's something we could pick up again later?"

Kurt hadn't thought of that. He was staying over tonight anyway, but that didn't help his rather more immediate problem of being achingly hard. A glance in the mirror showed him just how utterly debauched he looked.

Blaine glanced into the mirror as well, letting out a surprised laugh. "God, we look like we've just gone two rounds in a bathroom at a high school Halloween party. I don't know about you, but I'm staying here another ten minutes."

Kurt looked at him curiously until Blaine caught his gaze and explained. "Because there is no way I can go back downstairs with a hard-on in these pants."

The tension was broken as they broke into fits of giggles and stayed until they could leave inconspicuously.

When they re-joined the party fifteen minutes later, more people had arrived. The costumes were spectacular and the mood was getting increasingly playful, loud laughing as people drank Puck's vodka and tequila shots.

They began a drinking game early in the evening. The shots seemed limitless and no matter how many times he insisted that getting drunk was not the plan, Kurt still ended up drinking at least five.

Blaine was a handsy drunk. Scratch that, apparently a very, very handsy. Sometime after eleven he asked Kurt to dance, gesturing sporadically around the room. They'd never been near each other publically like this so Kurt looked around at his friends. Rachel and Finn had disappeared from the room, Santana was off in the corner talking loudly with Artie and Brittany, Tina had given up on being social altogether and passed out on Mike's lap.

Mercedes was dancing with Quinn and Puck in the middle of the room, so they wouldn't be the only people dancing. Kurt bit down on his lower lip trying to decide but Blaine was already grabbing his hand and yanking him towards the little group on the floor. It was fine once they'd gotten into it, or when Kurt realised no one was paying any attention. Blaine put a hand on his hip where it rested warmly as they got closer with each movement.

"Get some, Anderson!" Puck said, wiggling his eyebrows at Blaine and winking at Kurt. "I knew it was him when you had that hickey the other day, Kurt!"

Blaine had taken no notice of anything Puck was saying, which probably a blessing, choosing instead to twirl Kurt on the spot and grind up against him from behind. He didn't know how he felt about that. It felt undeniably good, but did Blaine even care about what Puck was saying? Did everything they do together have to be sexual?

The shots must have got to him because even thinking about their… whatever it was, hurt. Before Kurt knew what was happening he was being guided up the stairs and out of the basement. He tried to look up but the room was spinning, dizziness and nausea overtaking everything else.

Then it was black.


	15. Chapter 15

It was dark. He was laying on something soft. And there was a sharp pain in his left knee.

Kurt tried to make sense of the blank nothingness. His head was pounding and every move sent a thump of pain through his head.

He attempted to differentiate the voices on the other side of the door, which were obviously trying to be quiet but were so drunk they failed.

"Do we even know if Hummel and Anderson is a thing? Isn't it a little presumptuous putting them in the same bed? In Anderson's bed no less?" That must have been Puck, using surprisingly big words for how slurred his voice sounded through the door.

Santana's voice seeped through. "According to the girl hobbit, they're a thing but not confirming or denying anything."

Someone else interjected. Maybe Mercedes? "I don't think they will have any problems if we put their drunk asses in the same bed, but instead of standing around chatting about it, someone needs to get Blaine up the stairs."

No Mercedes what the hell are you thinking? Don't put him in the same bed as me. I'll probably end up doing something and we're drunk and MERCEDES, THIS IS A BAD IDEA!

Kurt's eyes fluttered closed for a few moments of relief, but they felt coated in glue when he tried to open them again. Light flooded the room. He expected to see someone guiding Blaine into the room, but Leroy and Hiram were home, Kurt closed his eyes swiftly to make sure all impressions said he was completely passed out and hadn't done anything wrong.

Feet shuffled by the door. They must still be there. "How much do you think they had to drink? I can guarantee you this is not the work of a few bottles of champagne and some wine coolers." Hiram apparently.

Leroy responded surprisingly conversationally. "It's Noah, I'm sure of it. The kid's got a knack for getting his hands on booze."

Kurt was as surprised as he could be in that realm of 'I've had so much to drink that my body won't function, but my mind will until I pass out'. Maybe he should move out of the bed?

Kurt laughed at his subconscious. As if moving was an option.

"So, this begs the question honey. Are we going to allow Burt's gay son to spend the night in our equally gay son's bed? If I know those kids at all, they'll be putting Blaine in there too." Hiram paused, almost in hysterics. "And that means are we happy to have a bunch of horny, drunk teenagers hooking up all over our house?"

Leroy tried to shush him, offering softer words. "If we pull the 'we're home, everybody find somewhere to sleep' maybe we can work it to our advantage?"

"How does that work?" Hiram questioned. They were still standing right near the bedroom door and Kurt, surprisingly, was still conscious.

"How much time to these kids get with their partners?"

"You can't be serious right now. That's not even an option," Hiram spluttered.

Leroy sighed. "How about we give them a bit of leeway and if they abuse it, separate them?"

Hiram said something muffled by the music being turned up downstairs,

"It's a deal," Leroy replied.

Damn. He missed something in the middle there. Not that it mattered.

The music cut off abruptly downstairs and Kurt revelled in the blissful lack of thumping base.

-

Sometime later, Kurt could have sworn it had only been a second, his mouth felt like someone had dropped an ocean full of sand in there and made him swallow it. There was a whole lot less room on the bed and a hand on his thigh...

Wait, what?

Confused as ever, Kurt peeled open his eyes to come face to face with Blaine. He looked…so much younger asleep, all smooth lines and his hair a curly mop.

Someone, who was going to be on the receiving end of a muffin basket come morning, had put two large bottles of water on the bedside table.

Now he faced a dilemma. To get to the water he was going to have to reach over Blaine, unless he wanted to get up and walk around the bed, and no, that sounded like a terrible idea.

Trying to be as slow and gentle as possible, he leaned over Blaine as much as he could and just needed a few more inches. His left knee was still hurting, so shifting all the weight to his right, Kurt stretched.

Success.

Water. Blissful, cool, wet water. There should be some way of singing praise to water because right now, Kurt would be totally down serenading the most amazing liquid in existence.

He patted around on the bed a bit searching for his phone. It couldn't be too far. He finally found it in his pocket, warm from where he'd fallen asleep on it.

4am.

Kurt could make out shadows now that his eyes had adjusted to the lack of light in the room. Blaine was snoring softly, rhythmical with a quiet snuffle every few breaths. He was adorable to watch, but Kurt forced himself to turn over and try to go back to sleep. He wriggled around, trying to find a new comfortable spot which faced away from Blaine just in case, when Kurt felt an arm snake around his waist and tug him closer.

It was nice, that feeling of being completely surrounded and safe in Blaine's arms, protected from the world. He couldn't hold back the little wiggle backwards until they were flush up against each other. Blaine's chest was solid along Kurt's back, his breath tickling the sensitive hairs on the back of his neck.

Kurt startled when Blaine's lips brushed the skin there. It had to have been deliberate, judging by the grip tugging him impossibly closer.

"I could get used to this," Blaine muttered sleepily. Kurt sighed, closing his eyes and feeling the vibrations from Blaine's words against his body.

"You probably shouldn't get too used to it…" Kurt replied back quietly.

The house was silent at this time of the morning. Someone had closed the door when they had delivered Blaine to bed. Kurt suspected it was Puck, who had seemed to be more invested in Kurt's love life than his own for years, but he wouldn't have put it past Santana or Mercedes either.

Blaine distracted his train of thought, peppering feather-light kisses from the edge of Kurt's hairline to behind his ears. He hadn't expected sharing a bed to feel so intimate. After spending years sharing girl's beds, nothing had ever caused his heart to palpitate like this and his already-dry mouth to imitate the Sahara Desert.

"What if I wanted to get used to it?" Blaine whispered.

Kurt's eyes reacted before his brain caught up, snapping open in surprise. "I'm sure our parents would love that. 'No worries dad, just off to share a bed with another guy on a school night because I like to snuggle!' I can see that going down well!"

Blaine snorted. "That's not what I meant. Kurt, I was wondering if you-"

Kurt cut him off, reaching behind and jabbing him in the side. "Don't you dare." Blaine looked confused, and more so when Kurt moved away from him on the bed. "If you were going to say what I think you were going to say then no, don't say it, because the last thing I want is for you to wake up and not remember anything."

Kurt was trying to hold back tears. This was not how it was supposed to happen. At least they were getting a chance to have a conversation, even if it was at 4am with their bodies still wracked with alcohol.

"Kurt, I..."

Fuck. What if Blaine hadn't been asking him about something more exclusive?

Blaine's breathing hitched a bit behind him and Kurt felt a warm hand on his side. "Come back here. You're right, of course. Maybe tomorrow we could go somewhere and talk. We really haven't had much time for conversation."

Hesitant, but not about to refuse the warm pull of Blaine's arms, Kurt settled back down against him until he was asleep within minutes.

In the morning, things were less foggy. Kurt got up with some difficulty, extricating himself from Blaine's grip and immediately missing the comforting feel of lying in bed together on a lazy Sunday. But no, he'd promised his dad he would be home by 9am and had every intention of honouring that, hung-over or not.

Kurt made his way to the bathroom, feeling the mixture of sweat and alcohol on his skin and grimacing, before placing his shower bag and clothes on the sink and snapping the lock behind him.

He fiddled with the taps until it was a comfortable temperature and washed as quickly and efficiently as possible. Not to hog the bathroom for too long with so many people in the house. Snippets of the night before were flooding back, the conversation he'd overheard in the hallway. Puck using big words.Blaine, kissing up his neck in the night and causing little shivers to run down his spine, the awkward moment when Blaine might have been asking him something but- oh shit.

Kurt shook his head, determined not to think about it until they had a chance to talk it through. Instead, he got dressed and fixed his hair, shoving his clothes haphazardly into his bag and going in search of coffee.

"Morning Kurt! You're up early," Rachel beamed from the kitchen table. It was sickening really, all that perkiness after a big night.

"Morning Rachel. Coffee?" he replied, already fixing a mug.

"Not for me, you should know that by now." She was still grinning, but why?

"You're disgustingly happy this morning. Did you have a good night then?" Kurt quipped out.

"Oh let's not talk about my night, how about we talk about yours. The fact that you spent most of it drunk and in bed with my brother." The Cheshire Cat would be jealous.

"How about no?"

"How about I know what he was going to ask you. How did that go?"

What? Had everyone known Blaine was… what?

"What are you talking about Rachel? We were drunk, went to sleep that was it." He was getting a bit annoyed now. The fucking presumptions made by well, everybody, were getting old.

Rachel looked confused, her head tipped slightly to the side. "But Blaine wasn't drinking."

Exasperated Kurt put the cup he was holding down on the counter a tiny bit harder than intended. "Of course he was. I saw him with a beer at least twice!"

"No, that's impossible. By the time our dads got home, he was walking upstairs and went to bed, where everyone else thought you had gone earlier so it didn't look suspicious." He could almost see the clogs turning in her mind, trying to put two and two together but only ever coming up with three. "Did he at least ask you to be boyfriends?"

He shook his head as he tipped the half-drunk coffee into the sink and picked up his bag. "I'm going home. I'll talk to you later."


	16. Chapter 16

It was supposed to happen differently, rainbows and butterflies and all that jazz. Romance and sweet words, thrills and little touches shared together in the moonlight while they got to know each other.

The first date was perfect, but there was no way it should have led to rough making out on Blaine's bed. The second had been a complete disaster at the hands of too much alcohol and destroyed by Kurt's misconception of the impending conversation.

He'd thrown himself at the mercy of unpacking, putting so much energy into it that Carole demanded instead of asking that he stop for lunch or 'he'd probably pass out from exhaustion'.

The unending stream of words swirled and echoing in Kurt's head that 'Blaine wasn't drinking,' and 'I could get used to this'. He just wanted to stay busy so he didn't have to think about the implications.

Kurt settled for lunch, eating the sandwich and fruit with a vengeance, until the tell-tale ache in his stomach reminded him of why he hadn't eaten sooner that morning. His iPhone was upstairs in his room, turned off and on charge for good measure.

The way Kurt saw it, he had a few options: pretend to forget everything that had happened the night before (probably hindered by Rachel); hiding away, which he'd been quite successful at so far; or going to confront Blaine and ask him what the hell was going on.

There was nothing that could have prepared him for the past few weeks. It had been a whirlwind of sleepovers, people butting into Kurt's personal affairs and general Blaine-centred meandering thought. He still hadn't gotten up the nerve to ask why Blaine was sneaking out a night a few weeks back, but did he really have a right to? Just because Rachel mentioned that he was looking to ask Kurt for exclusivity didn't mean that he had a right to pry into it.

But it was suspicious.

What if Kurt was merely entertainment while Blaine finished up high school? Someone he could fool around with on the weekends? No. They'd talked about that. But there would always be that lingering doubt in the back of his mind, the one that was scared of getting played.

It was easy to get lost in thought while unpacking and re-hanging clothing, smoothing out the wrinkles methodically and humming along with the music he had playing in the background.

Until a knock at Kurt's bedroom door startled him out of his musings. He carefully laid the pants he was holding on the bed and walked over, cracking the door open to see who it was.

"Kurt, there's a boy downstairs," Burt said through pursed lips.

"Are you being deliberately cryptic?" Kurt replied, opening the door wide enough to step through.

"No, I'm being a parenting genius. If I tell you there's someone at the door, you will go downstairs and talk to him." Burt smiled like he'd played some mastermind head game. "Instead of me sending him up to your bedroom."

Kurt raised a single eyebrow at his father. "I guess I'm going to go downstairs then."

There weren't many options as to who it could be. Kurt had guessed straight away anyway, because any other 'boy' wouldn't have waited on the front doorstep. Although that didn't lend any clues to why Burt pretended not to know him.

"Hi Kurt." Blaine stood on the front porch, his expression unreadable and his hands in the pockets of his jeans.

"Afternoon Blaine. I wasn't expecting you." He tried to sound aloof, but failed miserably, the words coming out more accusatory.

Blaine glanced down to his shoes then back up again. "I was hoping you would let me take you to coffee?"

This was getting to be a habit with them, communicating more with shared beverages than anything they actually said.

Burt had just gotten down to the bottom of the stairs when Kurt rushed past him and up to his room to collect a jacket.

"Kurt?" his dad questioned, eyeing the coat suspiciously.

"Coffee, Dad. Blaine and I are going to get coffee." Kurt hurried towards the door.

"You're too young to be so dependent on coffee, kid." It could have been a double meaning, but it stopped Kurt walking for just long enough to shoot back a reply over his shoulder.

"Coffee makes my days a little bit brighter. Surely you can't begrudge me that?" He closed the front door behind him and skipped down the steps, feeling like he was dancing on air when Blaine caught up.

"Where are we going then?" he asked.

Blaine smiled at him while holding out a hand. "Let's walk down to the park. They usually have a vendor there on the weekends."

Kurt stopped abruptly, causing Blaine to stumble. "Vendor coffee? Really Blaine?"

Tugging Kurt forward until they stood side by side, Blaine brought a finger to his lips in a shushing motion. "Have you ever even had vendor coffee?"

"Touché."

Blaine let out a laugh when Kurt didn't reply. "Thought so. Come on!"

They walked along the road, not saying anything until they reached the park. Luckily Blaine was right, because a vendor was set up in the car park. Blaine bought the coffee and they settled under a patch of trees.

"So…" Blaine started

"So…" Kurt echoed, holding his hot coffee between cupped palms and inspecting the grass.

"Let's play a game. Twenty questions. You can ask the first question and I promise to answer every single one honestly."

Whoa. This could be interesting.

"Okay, I'll be completely honest too." Kurt shuffled around on the grass, laying down on his stomach and enjoying the breeze. "Last night… were your trying to ask me out? I mean out, out."

Blaine looked away, a flush settling high in his cheeks. "Wow, and don't start with any easy questions… Yes. I was trying to suggest that I would like…more."

Kurt felt a thrill of gratification. Finally they were getting somewhere. "Your turn."

"Would you like to be more, Kurt?" Blaine asked, almost shyly.

"Yes," Kurt answered, plucking a few blades of grass from in front of him. It was, quite frankly, a lot easier to be honest when they weren't making eye contact.

"Your turn," Blaine reminded.

"Were you drinking last night? Because I thought you were, but Rachel said that you weren't and then we ended up in bed together and I thought you might have only been asking me out because you were drunk…" Kurt trailed off, blushing

"I had a couple of beers, but I'll tell you a secret. I'm no good with alcohol. I get drunk really fast and the effects wear off slowly unless I quit while I'm ahead." Blaine shifted to lay on his stomach next to Kurt, holding himself up with his elbows and entwining their fingers on the ground in front of them.

Kurt looked around out of habit. Their little section of the park was fairly quiet. A few people were walking dogs and there was another group of people having a picnic on the other side, but they should be safe.

"Why do you get so nervous when I touch you in public?" Blaine said quietly.

As he tried to figure out the right words to respond with, Kurt fiddled with the grass in his other hand. "Aren't you worried about being seen with me?"

"You didn't answer my question," Blaine chided, bumping his shoulder playfully.

"Because… because of people. Your friends, my friends, people who don't like everything we represent. Just people. I'm worried that you're going to realise you're much, much more experienced than I am, and maybe you're just… settling."

Blaine's jaw dropped open and his forehead creased into a frown. "Kurt, you're insane. You're…you're beautiful. But it's not just that. We've known each other for years. Sure, not quite like this, but we have known each other. I have seen other people since I came out but you have always been right there. Right in that niche of me not knowing if it's too far. Or even if you liked me at all." Blaine shuffled a bit closer, their sides almost completely pressed together now. "A few weeks ago, there was a moment, a certain look in your eyes. I can't even explain it. But it was just you. God, I don't even think I'm making sense anymore."

"But you're you, Blaine. You're the only other openly gay guy at McKinley. You have heaps of friends and nobody picks on you or slams you into lockers for it. Why would you risk that for me?"

Blaine shook his head. "You don't get it, do you? I've always had a 'thing' for you. You're actually the reason I first worked out that I'm gay." He let out a nervous laugh. "When I first moved in with Rachel, you were always there – playing, singing and just being around. But I didn't know then that what I felt was okay, not age-appropriate, but okay."

There was a long silence before Blaine cleared his throat. "So, when did you decide you liked me back?"

Kurt didn't let the pause go on. If he hesitated to think out his answer, then he might lose the courage to say it. "About 5 weeks ago."

Simple, easy, and as far as he would admit to anyway. It was 5 weeks ago that Kurt had let himself go with it. Before that it was just a rush of feeling here or there when they would gang up on Rachel about watching a movie or in the hallway when Blaine would smile just as brightly at him as anybody else.

Blaine acknowledged his answer with a nod. "Your turn."

Kurt swallowed. "A few weeks ago, when I was staying over at you house you… got a message and snuck out of the house for a few hours, but when I saw you the next morning, you didn't look any worse for wear. Why?"

Blaine looked shocked and surprised, completely side-swiped by the question. "Um, I was going to see a friend. She does…art and needed some help."

"A friend?" Kurt was dubious.

"Not your turn for a question, you'll have to wait," Blaine answered smugly. "After our first date, when I invited you back you my house. Were you upset by what happened?"

"Honestly? No. It was…nice. Nerve-wracking and unexpected but nice." Honesty was nice too, refreshing and liberating.

Kurt could see the crinkles on the side of Blaine's face from where he was smiling down at the grass, "And to answer your question, yes, a friend. She and I have been friends for a year or two and I'll visit when she texts, because that's usually the only time she's free to see me."

That made no sense. A friend, a friend that was a girl who was only available for two o'clock visits? Right. Okay. Sure.

"Kurt, would you be my boyfriend?" Blaine was looking at him now, drawing his gaze up from the ground and meeting their eyes.

Would he? Like he even needed to think about that.


	17. Chapter 17

"Yes." Kurt was surprised at the sound his own voice, pitchy and high in the deserted park.

Blaine smiled softly in response. "Does this mean I get to hold your hand?" He laid his hand down, palm up, and felt his stomach flip with nerves. It seemed like something small or trivial. They'd held hands before. Technically, they'd had sex before too. But this was different. It was new and exciting and official.

Kurt placed his hand lightly on top of Blaine's, entwining their fingers and smiling. "We should probably go. It's getting kind of late."

"But we're nowhere near answering twenty questions. We should stay here until we're finished." Blaine looked hopeful and adorable, his big brown eyes pleading.

Kurt stood up and brushed the grass and leaves from his pants. "Come on! I have unpacking to do, and we both have school tomorrow."

"Urgh, school." Blaine stood and brushed his own clothes off before reaching for Kurt's hand. Kurt felt satisfied with the conversation. If he had any lingering doubts about Blaine's late night adventures, it wasn't anything sordid and eventually Blaine would trust him enough to talk. He hoped.

They started walking back in the direction of Kurt's new house, sneaking the occasional look at each other and smiling shyly whenever their eyes met.

"What do we tell them? I mean, at school tomorrow." Kurt was still scared of the possible rejection that even posing a simple question like that could induce and willed Blaine to keep walking forward so they didn't have to have this conversation facing each other where Blaine could see his fear all over his face.

"Kurt." Blaine stopped and Kurt started internally screaming as Blaine held firm and guided Kurt's chin up so that they were looking at each other properly. "I'm not ashamed of this. Of us. I want to scream it from the rooftops that you agreed to be my boyfriend just now. I want to take you on dates and show you off, to be able to hold your hand openly and sneak kisses while nobody's watching. I'm yours and I'm more than happy for everyone else to know it."

Kurt glanced down at his shoes, feeling silly for having worried about it at all. Blaine stroked his thumb against Kurt's cheek. He had known Blaine so long that he trusted Blaine not to just brush off their…their relationship at school like he had feared. It wasn't something that Blaine wanted to hide or sneak around behind the backs of family or friend. It was real. They were actually officially dating and Kurt might just be the luckiest boy in the world.

When they reached Kurt's house, they shared a quick kiss on the doorstep. Kurt could feel his cheeks burning and his heart pounding as he watched Blaine walk to his car and reverse out of the driveway.

As Kurt got dressed for school, the anticipation and questions began to twist knots into his stomach. Now that they were together, would he sit with Blaine at lunch? Would Kurt's friends expect them to sit together now, maybe swapping between Blaine's friends and Kurt's? How was he supposed to behave when he saw Blaine walking down the corridor with his other friends? The football players who… Kurt shook his head to clear it. No one even knew yet, it was their first day at school together, and he was already going crazy.

He was running late as he ran to his locker three minutes before the first bell was due to ring. Rachel was standing beside it, no doubt ready to regale him with tales of her thrilling Sunday. She started talking before Kurt had so much as opened the metal door to his locker. "So, at the party I had a talk with Finn over what I wanted in the future and guess what?"

He started fiddling with the lock, clicking it open while Rachel looked ready to explode on the spot with the need to tell him. "What?" It came out kind of flat, uninterested, because really, Kurt had way bigger news. Rachel frowned at his reaction.

"Well fine. If you're not interested, I won't bother you with it." She sniffed dismissively but looked hurt and Kurt immediately felt bad for not being as excited as usual. But goddamn, he had exciting things happening too and just because he didn't get the opportunity to announce it to first thing on a Monday morning didn't make it any less important!

"No. Sorry. I just have a lot on my mind, I'm sorry. By all means, please continue."

She brightened as Kurt turned back to open the door to his locker. Rachel was still talking but a little white piece of paper distracted his attention and then hers when it fell to his feet. She stopped mid-sentence, looking between the paper and Kurt as he crouched to retrieve it. The bell rang and he ignored it because hello, this note was way more interesting than English.

"What's that, what's that?" She bounced around him trying to seek over his shoulder but Kurt pressed the note to his chest and scowled at her.

"It's mine. That means I get to read it first," Kurt said, resting his weight on the locker beside his and peeking at the paper.

'Good morning sweetheart.' Signed with a heart. It was the most romantic thing he'd ever gotten.

Well. Really. It was the only romantic thing he'd ever gotten. But that didn't matter right now with the way his heart was flipping excitedly.

"Well?" Rachel shifted on the spot eagerly. Kurt realised that Blaine and he hadn't talked about what they would say to Rachel. Not properly. And she could get annoyed or angry or any number of unpredictable reactions that were typical of Rachel Berry and whether he wanted to admit it or not, Rachel was his best friend and he didn't want to lose her.

"It's nothing," he said, folding it back up and sliding it into his locker..

Rachel rolled her eyes. "It's from Blaine, isn't it?"

Yes, no, maybe. Would you be upset?

He looked at his feet. "Yes."

The word hung in the air for a few seconds before Rachel launched herself at him, squealing and hugging him so hard he struggled to breathe. "You guys are going to be so great together! You let me know if you need me to cover for you anytime, okay? And you better know that I expect to spend some time with you before you sneak off into his room when you come over on the weekends!"

Wait, what?

She kept talking and Kurt tried to keep up. He was glad that although he was dating her brother, things apparently weren't changing between him and Rachel. It felt like he could breathe easier knowing that she accepted them.

"So anyway, I had a chance to talk with Finn at the party and he asked me out! Can you believe it?"

So that explained why she didn't care as much as he expected. They were seeing each other's brothers.

The second bell rang and Rachel vibrated with excitement. "Okay, I gotta run so I'll see you in class later! You text me if anything exciting happens!" Rachel called, skipping off to class.

Kurt shook his head at how incredibly erratic she was, heading in the opposite direction to his morning classes.

Just before lunch, Kurt had another folded note drop to his feet.

I'll meet you in the cafeteria. And another little heart. He was dating a dork.

He swapped out the books for his next class and made his way to the cafeteria, finding Blaine by the door with two bottles of water and a lunch tray filled with the foods Blaine tended to like eating. "So, where would you like to sit?"

Like it was that easy.

Kurt fidgeted with the buttons at the end of his sleeve. "Can we sit with my friends today? I mean, it…it'd be awkward sitting with yours. They all hate me." Kurt mumbled, hoping it would sting less if it wasn't really coherent.

"Clearly you haven't noticed that I don't have one regular group of friends. I just sort of sit wherever the hell I want," Blaine shrugged, but smiled encouragingly and led Kurt to where the Glee club usually sat.

Tina, Rachel and Mercedes were already there and gossiping over lunch, which stopped abruptly when Blaine sat down. He gestured to the seat beside him for Kurt, who accepted it and slid in gracefully.

Rachel recovered first. "To what do we owe the pleasure, dearest brother of mine? Is there some exciting news to share?" And wow, she was as subtle as a freight train. Kurt wondered if lasers would burn holes in her head if he stared hard enough.

"Yes, darling sister. I have news of astronomical proportions and you simply have to hear it at once so you can share it with everyone you meet so that my personal life becomes public knowledge of half of America," Blaine deadpanned. They played this stupid 'game' all the time at home and Kurt shook his head at the stunned, confused looks of Tina and Mercedes.

"So, you see my dear sister, I-"

"You're going out with Kurt, aren't you?" Mercedes interrupted smoothly.

Blaine blinked and looked slightly affronted at being cut across. "Yes."

"Great. Awesome. About bloody time. You're welcome to sit with us at lunch whenever you want," Mercedes said. "Now Tina, where were you in your story about Mike?"

The exchange with Blaine ended just like that. Both Rachel and Blaine both looking a bit put off by the abrupt end to their usual banter. Kurt snorted and excused himself to get some lunch.

By the time Glee club rolled around at the end of the day, Kurt was surprised how little anything different made having a boyfriend. Everything carried on as normal. Sure, there were a lot of people whispering behind their hands when he walked past, but like that was anything unusual. Besides, he kind of wanted them to whisper. He was interested in what the rumours would descend into and what Blaine would do when he heard them.

Kurt walked into the choir room, his head high and a spring in his step. Until he stopped. Because Blaine was sitting in the front row, his bag on the chair next to him, which he hastened to move to the floor between his legs.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Kurt blurted out without really thinking. It sounded as alarmed as he felt.

"I-" Blaine started.

"Blaine's auditioning so he can spend more time with you at school!" Rachel squealed, clapping her hands. "Finally my brother has seen the show choir light!"

"You'd never believe it, but Blaine is perfectly capable of explaining himself to his boyfriend" Blaine shot at her, beckoning to Kurt to come closer and reaching for his hand. "Hi. How's your day been?"

Kurt tried to hide the smile that spread across his face, with absolutely no success as he laced his fingers with Blaine's. "It's been pretty good. I got some notes in my locker from someone and at lunch, I sat with this guy who was really attractive only to discover that same guy is apparently now weasling into my life so I can see him more. But I guess it's okay because I kind of like him"

Blaine grinned and squeezed their hands together.

Santana glanced over from her spot in the corner next to Brittany. "So we were totally right that this is the guy responsible for that massive hickey of yours?"

Kurt flushed and ducked his head down and she cackled victoriously.

"Dude! Bro-fist!" Puck shouted, holding out his bunched hand to Blaine.

"Um, guys. He's my brother, remember?" Finn interrupted.

"Hey Finn, she's my sister, remember?" Blaine returned.

"So, now that everyone knows the familial relationships in the class, let's get started," Schue cut in, and Kurt startled because he hadn't even seen his teacher walk in. Creepy. "Since I don't see a need to introduce Blaine, let's get straight into it. Regionals is in five weeks and I'm asking for suggestions."

The room erupted in chaos and Kurt watched Blaine's free hand cover where they were propped on Kurt's knee, a hand sandwich that was warm and comforting. He wondered why he'd ever wondered Blaine would try to hide their relationship.


	18. Chapter 18

“Dude, do you want a lift home?” Finn walked over to where Kurt was standing just as the lesson was finishing up for that day. Kurt looked at Blaine, a little upset that that such a wonderful day had to end.

“I- do you want to come over to _ours_ for a while, Kurt?” Rachel asked, smoothly cutting off Finn’s words and bouncing her way over. Honestly, was it physically impossible for those two to walk normally?

Blaine, still beside Kurt said, “Rachel, if Kurt visits this afternoon, do you think he’s really going to want to hang out with you? Besides, he’s probably got homework. We could study.”

Rachel cut in again, “Already trying to steal him _Blaine_? Best friends before boyfriends.” Finn’s head was flicking comically between them.

“I have homework.” Kurt blurted out over all of them. “I should… get that done before anything else.” There was no way he was playing these two off of each other; they were going to have to set some ground rules. 

Blaine nodded. “Kurt, if you like, we can do something Friday night and you can you know – hang out with Rachel or whatever during the week.”

Rachel shot him a look of disbelief. “That’s perfect! So I can have my best friend on timeshare?” she said, sarcasm dripping from her tone.

“Friday night, Blaine, we’ll talk about it tomorrow.” Kurt said, picking up his bag and standing next to Finn. “I brought my car, so I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

Blaine smiled at him, before walking over to place a soft kiss on his cheek. “Can I call you later?” Kurt nodded, and Rachel was still spluttering when he left the room, effectively putting an end to the conversation.

***

He hadn’t been kidding – there was enough homework to keep him busy for the time before dinner, and in between dodging texts from Rachel, who started out with texts about how he couldn’t forget their friendship just because he was with Blaine now, and with the lack of response spiralled into apologies and whining.

Kurt flicked off a text how he had finished his homework and was going downstairs for dinner and leaving his phone upstairs before setting it to silent and pocketing it. Just in case.

Dinner was uneventful; he made his way through the lasagne and salad that Carole had made for dinner. Finn had shovelled his portion and raced back to his bedroom to continue the rapid fire round of whatever video game he was playing that week. Honestly, it was a wonder he was passing any of his classes. 

Kurt did the dishes before going upstairs, checking his phone on the way and almost tripping up the stairs twice. There were no missed calls from Blaine yet, but there was a text saying that he would call later and a couple more texts from Rachel, apologising for being a bad best friend (again), and then another from Blaine saying he had gone out and probably wouldn’t call him until later that night.

A bath would be spectacular right then, Kurt thought. Figuring he had the time and stripping down to his boxers, Kurt grabbed his towel, phone – just in case, and went to start the water before adding some home-made bath mixture made up of Grape Fruit seed extract, Vitamin E Oil, and Kaolin Clay.

It was easy to let the hot water soothe the day’s worries from his muscles, and even easier to let himself over to relaxation and his mind wander. He thought about what he would have to say to Rachel the next time he saw her, her inherent need to be the most important person in every situation was wearing thin … but he would think on that more later, because he was naked and in the bath and he didn’t feel like wasting that time thinking about Rachel.

Blaine, on the other hand... Blaine he could happily think about from the bath. The last few weeks had been a bit of a whirl wind so even in bed at night he hadn’t really had time to stop and _think._ Blaine Anderson. His _boyfriend._ It all started out quite innocent, closing his eyes and thinking about Blaine’s eyes and his hands and his mouth; problem was, it didn’t stay that way.

Thinking about Blaine’s mouth trailing down his chest and further, Kurt closed his eyes and stroked himself lightly, letting the natural slide from the soap ease his way and enjoying the sweet sensation of some long overdue relief. Thinking about Blaine’s mouth stretched around him, dark eyes looking up at his and listening to the slick sound of his hand and the water lapping the sides of the tub repetitively.

Adding some more pressure and longer strokes Kurt revelled in the bliss like state of pre-orgasm where every twist of his wrist caused shudders of excitement up his spine.

Kurt’s phone rang from where it was perched on top of his towel next to the bath, sighing loudly at the lack of pressure right where he needed it, he carefully dried off his hand and looked at the screen. Blaine was early, and between not answering his phone to finish what he was doing or answering it – the choice was simple.

“Hi, how are you?” Kurt’s voice was high, tight and breathy and not at all suspicious. Clearing his throat and trying to focus on what Blaine was saying, Kurt turned his attention back to the conversation at hand.

“Aww did I make you run all the way to your phone, Kurt? You’re _panting.”_

“I- no, no I just had to dry off my hand. I’m um, in the bath?”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.” Kurt could feel his cheeks burning and he bit harshly into his lower lip. Anything had to be better than the complete mortification he felt in that moment.

Blaine didn’t say anything for a few moments. “Should I call back later? I mean, if I uh… interrupted anything?”

Kurt squeaked. It was supposed to be a word but really, he tried and failed, and then coughed. “N-no you can stay on the phone if you like I, um – I’m a bit bored in here anyway.” Boredom yes, that was a perfectly good reason to want to continuing the conversation, God, why was he so bloody awkward at this?

Blaine laughed on the other end of the line; it wasn’t fair, him laughing like that. “You’re adorable. Also, quite probably naked so I assume adorable isn’t the word I should be using here.”

Kurt could feel himself blushing again. How was this guy even real? “Kurt? Are you okay? Was that too forward?”

“No, it’s okay.” That was better; his voice had evened out at least.

“So, naked then.” Kurt could imagine the huge grin Blaine would have plastered over his face right now. “Then I guess Face Time is not an option?”

“No, Blaine I’m-” 

There was a laugh on the other end of the line. “I was kidding,” Blaine murmured.

“No you weren’t.” It came out a lot more confident than Kurt felt in that moment.

“Actually,” Blaine said, breathing out heavily. “We should probably talk about this a bit, and now is just as good a time as any.”

“That sounds serious.” Kurt replied, trying to distract himself from the tight feeling in his chest.

Blaine continued. “We’ve already had sex Kurt, and I need to know that you’re comfortable with that fact before we get carried away again.”

The anxious feeling subsided a bit, and there was only a slight tremor to his voice when he replied. “I’m comfortable.” It was quick, like ripping a bandaid off. He stopped there, thinking what that little confession was going to mean for them. Was Blaine going to think he wanted to have sex all the time now? What if that meant that meant that Blaine wasn’t going to wait around for Kurt to slowly get used to the things he was permitted to do now? His chest felt like it was tightening again. “I-I mean.” He stopped again, trying to find the right words to explain himself.

“There’s no hurry here, Kurt. Just take your time and tell me how you feel about this?” Honestly? He was nervous, he was scared and…  Turned on?

Blaine didn’t just want to know how he felt and that was that. He wanted to know what Kurt would be comfortable with, what speed and it was just so considerate. Kurt really wasn’t used to being considered so readily.

“I should have asked this while we could talk face to face.” A statement, more than a question but Kurt was still stuck on the original one. “Then I could see how you were reacting to this properly, or if you were freaking out.”

He was not freaking out, a minor meltdown was not freaking out was it? “Are you freaking out?”

“Yes.” Kurt replied, not thinking.

“Okay that’s good; I thought it was just me. Now, stop freaking out.” It was like Blaine had flicked some switch, instantly Kurt’s breathing settled and he could think a bit clearer. “You’re allowed to take your time and think about this stuff, Kurt – I’m not going to force you into anything that makes you uncomfortable. I just want to talk about what we’ve already done and what you would be alright with, okay?”

Okay? Okay. He could do this. “Okay.”

“I know that talking about it isn’t exactly sexy, but it’ll stop us from going overboard because quite frankly, when you’re around I can’t seem to keep my hands off of you.” Wow. _Kurt_ did that, made Blaine’s voice sound sort of breathy and hot and deep. Why couldn’t talking about it be hot? Surely there’s no harm in _talking_ about what he wanted to do to Blaine.

“So the other night… was really nice.” Kurt started, decidedly putting his hand on the edge of the bathtub and gripping it tightly. “I enjoyed it and I was comfortable.”

“And hot.” Blaine interjected.

“What?”

“You forgot hot. Sorry, I have to stop interrupting,” Blaine rushed out.

“Okay,” Kurt continued. “I would like to do that again.”

“You’ll have to be more specific here, Kurt. The making out or the orgasms?

“Are they mutually exclusive?” Kurt asked, his knuckles getting a bit white from gripping too hard, but his left hand was dry by that point so he transferred the phone to that side unconsciously.

“No, no of course not just…” Blaine stuttered to a halt. “Orgasms are great – fantastic even.”

“Are you okay, Blaine?” Kurt asked, intrigued. It sounded like Blaine was just as _enthusiastic_ for this conversation as he was. Enthusiastic was the wrong word for it, really. His dick was interested.

“Yeah.”

Kurt let his hand rest on his chest, shivering a little at the goosebumps it created. To be fair, Blaine had interrupted, then killed the mood, and it was 100% his fault that they were back at this point.

“I wouldn’t mind a little more, I mean, given the right situation and privacy,” Kurt whispered, feeling a bit braver. It was worth it when Blaine’s breath hitched.

“Like what?” Blaine asked.

Kurt smiled. “Blaine, just to be clear here, are you asking about my limits or asking for me to set a scene?”

Blaine laughed, caught out apparently. “I want to know your limits, and to be open and honest about what we do sexually now and in the future… So both, I guess?”

Biting his lip Kurt continued, surprisingly eager with the direction the conversation had gone in. “I have limits, there are a few things I would like to wait a bit longer for because we can and I need to be sure that it’s right. But there’s also a part of me that wants to take you to a field of lilacs and have my wicked way with you.” There. He’d said it, without trembling through the sentence or messing the words up. Why was sex so difficult to talk about?

Probably because there were so many _firsts,_ it was intimidating. One would think it would be less intimidating over the phone, but Blaine’s eyes and hands had a way of soothing nerves away and touching him reverently.

“Kurt.” Blaine’s voice snapped Kurt out of his reverie. “We can take this at whatever speed you want. Don’t feel…” he paused, “obligated to do anything just because you think that’s all I’m interested in.”

That was the problem; Kurt was very, very interested. He just didn’t know quite how to say it. “No I’m not- I don’t feel obligated, I just want to go with the natural progression of it all.” By natural progression clearly he meant Blaine naked and in his bed right then, please. He would know that, right?

“Yeah, okay – that makes sense.” There was a moment or two of not quite uncomfortable silence before Blaine started talking again, “So if I were to tell you how turned on I was right now, that would be okay?”

 _So_ okay.

“Yes.” Well what now? Saying _you interrupted me seconds off getting off to imagining you naked_ was still probably a bit too honest. But then, that’s why they were talking about it, to be honest and open and this would be as good a place to start as any.

Kurt gave up all pretences right there and then. “I’m so fucking turned on right now Blaine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N  
> Hello darlings and welcome back to Symphony Dreamers. This is a cliff-hanger and I’m sorry about that. but think about how wonderful the next chapter will be! Thank you for sticking with this UST filled pile of hormones during its hiatus and I hope you’ll stick with me for the rest of the journey.  
> A little explanation as to why you’ve waited so long; I lost all drive after TBU episode to write schmoopy first-times and this entire story was written as a prompt-fill for a very good friend of mine.   
> That being said I was intending to write a couple of thousand words to wind it up in two chapters and be done with it. Until I saw the amount of people who were following it over the various posting platforms. Wow guys, seriously. I can’t thank you enough and it’s for you, not for me that I’m going to see it through to the completion of the story (I am leading up to something quite specific) and it’s going to take more than two chapters to do that so, from now on: fortnightly updates and comments/suggestions are most welcome.  
> xxxraquelita over on Tumblr is my most excellent beta and she’s helped bring you this by being a magnificent cheerleader and friend when I thought all hope had been lost for it.   
> Also shnks on Tumblr, for listening to me bitch about having to re-read and cringe over the beginning :D


	19. not a chapter

This fic is on permanent hiatus, and as it's my only wip i will let you know if i abandon it completely.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is on hiatus while I work on other projects. It will be completed but I don't know when.


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